With All My Might
by Kaptain Kristi
Summary: Finally Complete!! Fate has reared its ugly head and forced Max to leave Seattle just as her life seemed to be looking up. But why is Logan searching for her now? M/L, of course, sort of AR.
1. So Long Ago

Disclaimer: Yes, I am James Cameron. I put Dark Angel on Friday nights, I made the virus, and the Transgenic of the Week was all my idea.  
  
Disclaimer #2: Nothing in the above disclaimer is true. Everything in this story really belongs to His Royal MIA-ness, Mr. Cameron, and Co. Only Alexa is mine. So don't sue me, all you'll get is a deck of tarot cards and a geometry book.  
  
A/N: Ok, this is my first fic that I'm showing anyone, so be gentle, ok? This may be a bit slow for the first couple chapters, but the plot will pick up, I promise. Be patient with updates, writer's block plagues me every now and then! Also, take the 10 seconds to review this, please! I won't write this unless enough people are reading it.  
  
Take note of what's a flashback, that'll save you a lot of confusion. And if anything in this story is confusing, it'll probably be explained later. If it isn't, just let me know and I'll do my best to fix it.  
  
The first couple chapters will consist mostly of flashbacks, because without them, well, I wouldn't have my story. Those of you read the disclaimer and are wondering who Alexa is, you won't find out in this chapter. Expect to see her in Chapter 3. But those of you who are intuitive will probably figure out who she's gonna be by the end of this chapter. ;) The rating is an estimate; it could change with future chapters.  
  
  
  
Chapter 1: So Long Ago  
  
**********Flashback**********  
  
"He's cured", Sam Carr's voice informed Max over the phone. "After running a number of tests, it's clear Joshua's DNA is more compatible with Logan's than your was. The antibodies that initially stabilized the virus stayed in his bloodstream making him immune. He'll also be able walk on his own without the exoskeleton."  
  
"You're serious?", Max whispered after a pause. Never in her life had she been so happy to hear two words. With the virus no longer a threat, she and Logan could have the relationship they'd been neglecting for the past nine months. They could never be a 'normal' couple, they both knew that, but at least this gave the chance to at least be together. In her state of shock, Max dropped the phone, letting herself fall backwards onto her bed.  
  
"Hello? Max? Are you still there?", Sam questioned, hearing the thud on the other end.  
  
Max scrambled to pick up the phone, "Yeah, yeah, I'm still here. Thank you Sam, so much."  
  
"It's no problem. I called Logan already, so he's probably waiting for you. Just promise me one thing Max, that you and Logan won't screw this up."  
  
Blushing slightly, Max couldn't help the chesire cat grin the spread across her face. "I'll try", she promised, hanging up the phone.  
  
Calling on all of her transgenic speed, Max rushed to her Ninja and began he familiar journey to Logan's penthouse, cursing her baby all way for not being able to go any faster.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Standing outside the wooden doors, Max found herself knocking, which reminded her of the last time she had come over with the intention of touching Logan and her stomach in knots. Bracing herself as the knob began to turn, Max looked into Logan's eyes, instantly relieved to see the brilliant blue depths sparkling.  
  
"I've been waiting for you", Logan said quietly as he moved aside to let her in. Neither one sure of what to do, after an awkward pause, Logan finally spoke up. "I started making dinner, figured you'd be hungry."  
  
Raising her eyebrows suggestively at the many underlying meanings 'hungry' could have, she smiled, "Could I ever turn down your cooking?"  
  
Not being able to stand it any longer, Max took Logan's face in her hands and fused her voluminous lips with his. Sliding one arm around her waist and bringing his other hand to the back of her head, Logan eagerly returned and deepened the kiss. They stayed like that for several minutes, until Logan pulled back. Max moaned in protest, only to be silenced by Logan's fingers over mouth.  
  
"One of us doesn't have transgenic lungs, Max", Logan playfully reminded her.  
  
Looking deep into his eyes, Max summoned all the courage she could muster to say what she did next. "Logan?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I love you, too," Max stated, rare tears welling up in her eyes at the long-overdue confession.  
  
Finding her lips again, Logan whispered into them, "I love you".  
  
Walking silently to his bedroom, dinner having been forgotten, they spent the rest of the night celebrating the cure in the way only lovers can, falling asleep in each others arms just as the sun made its first appearance over the horizon.  
  
**********Flashback**********  
  
Ontario, Canada  
  
May, 2036  
  
Max replayed that last night with Logan over and over in her head every night while sitting on top of the old Skylon, looking out at Niagara Falls. Ontario had taken a hit after the Pulse, being on the American boarder and loosing nearly all its tourism reeked havoc on the city's cash flow, so the once flourishing restaurant was now abandoned, making it the perfect replacement Space Needle. Though she had made a life for herself in Canada, she could never get over Seattle, or those she had left behind there no matter how hard she tried. For the past 15 years Max had walked into the little coffee shop she worked in, every morning wishing she would be greeted with the sight of bikes, lockers, Original Cindy and Alec making up new diseases to explain why she was late, and Sketchy off on some new stupid antic. She even missed hearing Normal "bip" at everyone. Instead she walked in, on time, to the sight of coffee machines and muffins in their plastic trays on the counter. Every time she would drive by a high-rise apartment building, she would look up, zeroing in on the windows. But instead of seeing Logan musing as he looked at the city below, she'd see nothing. More than anything she wanted to be able to look into his eyes, see him smile, or hear him laugh just one more time. She missed him so much, there were still days when she could barely get out of bed. However, above everything she wanted set right, there was something she had to tell Logan. Max knew contacting him would get them both killed, but this had been burning in her every day since she fled Seattle. She felt she was running out of hope, running out of time, and ready to crack.  
  
----------------------  
  
A/N: Ok, so there you have it. Ok, so who wants a chapter 2? Oh, you do, do ya? Well, see, that requires me getting reviews. Now, if asking for the 7 seconds of your precious time to type "good" or "sucks" into a little box is too much, well, then who knows, you might be costing everyone a new chapter. I'm not posting Chapter 2 until I get enough reviews. =P 


	2. Burning Dreamland

A/N: A huge thank you and buddy hug to all those who reviewed! And thanks to sternite for calling me on my spend moment- I fixed my geography! Yeah, I have a lot of spend moments, so please let me know if you see something wrong (like Niagara Falls being in Ontario, not Montreal) cuz I don't wanna look any stupider than I have to!  
  
And yous don't have to worry about me leaving this fic without finishing it; this is the only thing keeping me from cracking right now with DA's cancellation!  
  
Please write to Fox and let them know what a huge mistake they've made and push James Cameron to give us some TV movies! Perhaps with our persistence, DA will be picked up as a mid-season replacement if one of Fox's new shows bombs.  
  
Ok…. On with chapter 2…..  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
Chapter 2: Burning Dreamland  
  
**********Flashback**********  
  
Max took a deep breath as her senses began to awaken, but she willed her eyes to stay shut. If she were to open them, Max was afraid of what she would be greeted with. Was it just another dream? No, it couldn't have been, it seemed too real; but she had dreamed that scenario so many times before, she was sure she'd wake up alone in her own bed. Max fought back the tears welling up behind her sealed eyelids as she inhaled again, but this time she stopped suddenly. Whipping her head around, her eyes were met with the sight of Logan's sleeping form and for the first time she registered the feeling of his strong hands around her waist. Against all her will, those inevitable tears fell from her eyes, a few of them splashing on Logan's arm and rendering him awake.  
  
"Max, are you crying?", Logan was baffled by the sight of tears in Max's deep brown eyes.  
  
"No, my face has a leak", Max responded with her classic sarcasm.  
  
Intertwining her legs with his, Max laid her head on Logan chest and slid an arm around his chest. Logan's hand immediately went to her hair; he loved being able to feel the soft strands between his fingers. The two were content to just lay there together for a while in compatible silence until Logan kissed Max's forehead and spoke up,  
  
"Since you're always hungry, I'll skip over that question and just ask what you want for breakfast", he said smiling down at her.  
  
"Logan Cale, you know me too well," Max laughed back. "How about French toast?"  
  
  
  
As Max sauntered into Jam Pony, she scanned the room for Original Cindy. In her rush to get to Logan's the night before, she realized she hadn't called or left a note to tell Cindy where she was.  
  
"Max Guevara!", she heard Cindy shout from behind her. "Boo, that virus bitch better've been cured cuz otherwise Original Cindy don't see no excuse why you'd be disappearin."  
  
Max laughed as a third cheesy smile came to her lips, "Yeah, that's gone."  
  
Cindy squealed and brought Max into a suffocating hug, "Finally! Original Cindy was starting to worry about you two."  
  
"Bip bip bip! This isn't social hour! Max, where the fire truck have you been?!", Normal hollered from behind his usual post.  
  
"Get off my ass, Normal. I got held up a check point, a bunch a guys had forged sector passes", Max lied.  
  
"Why do I not believe you? Here, package to sector 3, get moving", Normal mechanically answered.  
  
Rolling her eyes, and promising a bouncing Cindy to tell her more about the past night later, Max mounted her bike and took off on her run.  
  
  
  
Max looked up at the seemingly abandoned warehouse in front of her.  
  
"This can't be right", she thought to herself.  
  
Triple checking the address on the package, 1117 Annondale, sure enough, this was the place. Shrugging, she locked her bike on a nearby fence and walked up to the building. Pushing open the door, she had to use her night vision to look around.  
  
"Hello?", she called out, only to be met by silence.  
  
She could sense she wasn't alone, but couldn't see anyone else around her. Creeping further into the warehouse, she heard footsteps towards the back. Cautiously moving nearer to the sound she called out again, but got no response. Suddenly, out of the silence, Max heard the unmistakable sound of a gun's safety being pulled back.  
  
"Late for work this morning 452? I was expecting you earlier."  
  
Max's face burned at the sound of White's voice.  
  
"What the hell do you want you son of a bitch?", Max snapped. Only he could ruin her mood today.  
  
"The same thing I always want. You. Dead."  
  
Max just stared at him, tense and ready to attack, "And what makes you think you're going to get what you want this time?" Something told her she wouldn't get away so easily this time, something just didn't feel right.  
  
"This tine I have bait."  
  
"Bait?"  
  
"Yeah. You would like to avoid Logan Cale being killed, wouldn't you 452?  
  
Fighting back the tears that welled up at White's threat, Max plastered her solider expression on her face; she couldn't exhibit any weakness in front of the enemy. Max began scanning the warehouse for an exit. She had to get to Logan and warn him.  
  
"Don't even try to contact him, 452, I have familiars watching him. One move and his get gets blown off", White smirked seeing Max's eyes dart toward a vent in the ceiling.  
  
Lunging forward, Max exploited her abilities as best she could, narrowly missing the bullet White fired at her. Max sent the gun flying out of sight as she kicked his hand in one blurring motion. Reaching out and grabbing Max's throat, White brought his foot to her knee. He didn't just Max to die, he wanted her to suffer.  
  
"You took my son and he helped you", White shouted with disgust, delivering another blow to Max's abdomen.  
  
Struggling against his iron grasp, Max connected her fist with his nose. Twin rivers of blood began streaming down White's face as his head snapped back from the force of the blow, giving Max the second she needed to escape the grip on her windpipe. She flipped over him, twisting and trapping his arms behind his back. Max knew he didn't feel pain, making it harder for her to bring him down. Breaking free of her grasp, White sent Max hurling into a pole, knocking the wind out of her.  
  
"You can't win, 452. There's no escaping this time."  
  
Jumping up, Max propelled her foot to the underside of White's chin. The unexpected blow knocked him to the ground. Max bore a series of punches to White's head until he strated to stir. She knew she had to render him unconscious if she had any hope of getting out of that warehouse alive. Bearing down White's neck, she stayed on that pressure point she knew so well until White's eyes rolled back in his head. Dragging his limp body to a nearby pole, she tied him up using some rope she had spotted earlier.  
  
  
  
Max peddled as fast as she could back to her apartment. White wouldn't stay out cold for long and she knew he would come after her again. Her thoughts kept dwelling on Logan. She couldn't risk him getting killed, so she unwillingly decided that going to him was out of the question. His phone was probably tapped, too. If she told Logan she was leaving Seattle, she knew he would follow her now, and if White had familiars on him, then the both of them would be killed.  
  
Max rushed up to her apartment and into her bedroom; bringing her duffel bag out from under her bed. She had kept it packed since she ran away from her foster home when the Pulse hit. It was packed with what she would need until she found a place to stop; some clothes, cash, tryptophan, and a few cans of gas. Grabbing a pen and some paper, she quickly scribbled down two notes, one to Original Cindy and one to Logan. Sealing them in envelopes, she left them under the blankets on Cindy's bed. Max knew she could count on her boo to get the note to Logan when the time was right.  
  
At the door, Max stopped and considered waiting until after sunset to leave the city. Going now, in broad daylight, would make it easier for White's familiars to spot her. However, it was going to be about another 7 hours until dark and White would be awake by then. Even if the dark made her a little more inconspicuous, she felt a little more secure with the idea of White being unconscious when she fled. She'd have to make it as far as she could, as fast as she could. Max cautiously made her way through the sectors, pulling down her sunglasses so nobody would notice her watery eyes.  
  
Clearing the final sector checkpoint, Max mounted her baby and sped off down the highway, turning her head t take one final look at the city that she would always think of as home, finally letting the tears stream down her cheek as sobs racked her body.  
  
**********End Flashback**********  
  
  
  
A/N: Ok, I know I suck at writing fight scenes, so be gentle on that! Other than that, I hope yous all like this chapter; I re-wrote it a few times, and this was the one that seemed to flow the best. Again, leave me reviews if you want a chapter 3, cuz I'm not posting it until I get enough of them! 


	3. Never Far Enough

A/N: By popular request, I put in this chapter the contents of the notes Max wrote! But I was gonna do that anyway. Thank you to all yous who reviewed! If yous weren't reading, I wouldn't be writing. (  
  
Yes, we're still with the flashbacks here, but we're getting closer to 2036 again, I promise. These are also the first set of flashbacks that aren't all Max-oriented, so when the ones in Seattle are taking place, Max has already left. Also, take note of the months; the month the flashback takes place in doesn't change until indicated under the location.  
  
And I know I initially said Alexa would be in this chapter, but it's all your opinion whether she is or not. You'll get her as an actual character in the next chapter.  
  
  
  
Chapter 3: Never Far Enough  
  
**********Flashback**********  
  
Seattle, Washington  
  
April, 2021  
  
"Boo?", Original Cindy called out as she walked into their shared apartment. "Max, you here?"  
  
Though Normal had brushed it off with an annoyed comment, Cindy was worried about Max's disappearance. She knew Max, and Max didn't just ditch while out on runs; if she wasn't going to be at work, she's have Cindy cover for her in the morning. Cindy thought back to the last time Max had never come back from a run, when she left Seattle because Manticore had her surrounded. Cindy walked into Max's room and looked around. Some of her clothes were missing, but most of her things were untouched. Something was nagging at the back of Cindy's mind, something begging to be brought to the surface. Suddenly it hit her, the duffel. She had found it and questioned Max after first finding out about who, or what, Max really was. Looking under Max's bed, Cindy was met with nothing, confirming her sense of foreboding. Max had left Seattle, and she was sure those breeding cult freaks were to blame.  
  
Cindy briefly considered calling Logan, but dismissed the thought. Logan would want to know where Max went, why, exactly how long she'd been gone, but above all else, he'd try to find her. If Max had been driven to leave Seattle, Cindy was sure she wouldn't want anyone chasing after her. Contemplating what to do next, Cindy curled up on her bed when she heard something crumple beneath her. Pulling back her blankets, she found the two notes lying there, addressed in Max's handwriting. Cindy slowly opened the one addressed to her, almost afraid of what it might say.  
  
Cindy,  
  
I'm so sorry to just blaze like this; you know how much I've wanted to stay in Seattle. This time I don't know when I'll be back. White found out I work at Jam Pony and set a trap. He knows where Logan lives, too, and he's got familiars ready to take him out right now. For all I know he could have found out about you, too. I doubt it, he probably would've stormed our place if he did; but watch your back. I left a note for Logan with this one; please wait as long as you can to give it to him, hopefully White will have figured out I've left and leave Logan alone. I just want you to know that I had never had a real friend before I met you. I'll never forget you no matter what happens to me.  
  
- Max  
  
Cindy couldn't help the tears that fell on the paper; this was the second time in one year she had lost Max.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Logan punched in Max's pager number again while glancing at the clock. He'd trying for over an hour, but her pager wasn't on. Since she was late getting to his place for dinner, he was starting to worry about her.  
  
"Where is she?", Logan wondered, a little hurt she'd be late without calling on their first day without the virus.  
  
Picking up his phone again and calling Max's home number, he sighed, looking at the clock again for the fifth time in three minutes.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Yeah?", Cindy croaked into the phone, distantly hoping it would be Max on the other end.  
  
"Cindy, it's Logan. Is Max around?"  
  
"Um, hold on", Cindy put her hand over the receiver. What was she supposed to say? Max seemed to want her to wait to tell Logan she'd left. It was too late to say she was still at work, and Logan probably wouldn't believe that anyway. Saying there was some problem in one of the sectors wouldn't work, Logan was Eyes Only, he'd know about that sort of thing. Saying Max was sick was cliché, but it looked like her safest bet at that moment. "Logan?"  
  
"I'm still here, where's Max?"  
  
"She came home from work feeling pretty crappy, she's asleep," Cindy lied. "There's been some weird bug going around, some flu or something, looks like Max caught it. She was gonna head over when she woke up, but she feels warm and has been out for a while, so I think shed better stay in."  
  
Worried she'd said too much, Cindy waited tensely for Logan's answer.  
  
"Yeah, I understand. Tell her I'll call her tomorrow," Logan replied, disappointment obvious in his voice as he ended the call.  
  
Hanging up the phone, Cindy mentally sweared at herself. She didn't know how long she'd be able to hide Max's absence from Logan and she was dreading the moment when he would find out.  
  
**********Flashback**********  
  
Helena, Montana  
  
Max pulled up in front of a small diner. The sun had risen about an hour ago, and she was starving. Figuring it was safe to stop, she climbed off her Ninja and walked in, surprised to see quite a crowd there at 7:30 in the morning. Taking a seat at the counter and waiting for one of the waitresses to come over, she sighed and rested her cheek on her hand. Fighting to keep her solider façade up, she made a point to look for gas after breakfast. Her supply was almost tapped and she didn't want to run out in the middle of nowhere.  
  
"Hey, you there, doll?", a fifty-something waitress waived her hand in front of Max's face.  
  
"Oh, yeah, I'll just have some coffee and pancakes," Max mechanically answered.  
  
"What's got you so down, hun?", the woman questioned at Max. When Max diverted her eyes, she set the coffee in front of her, "Look, I've worked here long enough to know when someone's running away from something."  
  
Max sighed and gave the woman a few vague answers about where she was going and why. When her food was finally set down in front of her, Max inwardly grimaced at the fact that if her freak show life hadn't come back to bite her in the ass yet again, she'd be in Logan's kitchen eating his coking. Instead, she was in Montana with some woman who meant well, but just didn't know when to let up.  
  
**********Flashback**********  
  
**********Flashback**********  
  
Seattle, Washington  
  
"Hold up, Original Cindy's comin", Cindy shouted as she hurried to the door. Opening the lock and swinging the door back, her faced paled when she saw Logan standing there.  
  
Fearing the worst Logan looked Cindy in the eyes, "Every time I've called over the past nine days, Max has been 'asleep'. No mater how sick she is, she wouldn't sleep that much and she would've called me back. I just got word that White deployed nearly all of his men out of the city. What's going on?"  
  
At that point Cindy knew she could lie to Logan any longer. "Maybe you should come sit down", she offered as she stepped aside to let Logan in.  
  
Immediately walking over to Max's bedroom, Logan felt his worst fears becoming a reality as he saw her room was empty and her few favorite possessions were missing. As Cindy walked over to the couch and took a seat, Logan joined her.  
  
"She left this for you, said she wanted me to wait as long as possible to give you it", she said quietly, handing Logan the note.  
  
"She's really gone", Logan more stated than questioned. Getting up to leave, Logan suddenly felt faint, fearing what the note in his hand would say.  
  
As he reached the door, Cindy followed him and pulled him into a hug.  
  
"My girl really loved you, you know that. And don't think you've heard the last of Original Cindy. I'd better be seein yo ass at Crash every now and then."  
  
"I know. I'll see you around", Logan promised as he stepped out the door.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Logan sulked over to his couch, the color draining fro his face as he repeated the same though over and over in his mind, that Max was gone. He carefully tore open the envelope with his name scribbled across the front and unfolded the paper inside.  
  
Logan,  
  
As I'm sure Cindy told you, I've left Seattle. Please don't be angry, you know I didn't want to, but I couldn't stay. After that morning, I got sent on a run that turned out to be a trap White set. He said he had familiars watching you, ready to take you out if I tried to contact you. Something about the way he was looking at me scared me, I knew I had to get out of Seattle or we'd both end up dead. Please don't try to look for me; it would probably just get you killed. I'm so sorry. This is all because of my freak show life. I don't know when I'll be back, but White can't keep me fro you forever. Please don't forget me. I'll always love you, no matter what happens.  
  
- Max  
  
Logan read the note over and over, as if he believed that the seventh time it would say something different. Not knowing what to do next, he succumbed to the sweet oblivion of whiskey for the rest of the night, the note sitting ominously across from him on the table.  
  
**********Flashback**********  
  
**********Flashback**********  
  
Nova Scotia, Canada  
  
June, 2021  
  
"Maybe you're going through some kinda withdrawal from all that lovely Seattle pollution," Jondy laughed as she handed Max a bowl of soup.  
  
"Yeah, and I'd go through withdrawal sickness exactly a half hour after every meal," Max smirked, rolling her eyes. "Besides, we were made to be immune to all that stuff."  
  
Max and Jondy had hooked up about a month earlier in Chicago, both happened to be running from White. Some familiars had been tracking them and tried to trap them in the same alley to hold them for White's goons. The plan backfired, however, because they underestimated the strength and will of the two X5 sisters. Max was surprised at how quickly the familiars went down, but she and Jondy left Chicago together that night, deciding to stay together.  
  
"Four fists are better than two," Jondy had joked.  
  
Jondy had left San Francisco after White's goons stormed her apartment looking for her. Max and Jondy had come to calling their reunion 'bittersweet'; they may have finally found each other after almost twelve years, but they each wished for nothing more than to be able to return home without fearing for their lives.  
  
"Well, there is that whacked flu bug going around, maybe you caught that."  
  
"Wouldn't I have to have a fever for that?"  
  
Suddenly the smirk on Jondy's face fell. She'd been tearing her hair out for the past week trying to figure out what was wrong with Max. Now there was only one thing left she could think of that matched everything Max had been going through.  
  
"Max?", Jondy started, "Think back, what exactly were you doing your last night in Seattle?"  
  
"Jondy, that's not funny," Max choked, turning her face away.  
  
"No, Max, think about it -"  
  
"I don't want to!", Max growled, turning farther away.  
  
"No, hear me out," Jondy reasoned. At Max's sigh, she sat down next to her and continued, "Ok, you're getting sick like clockwork, despite that you're hungry all the time. It just hit me that you're overdue for heat and your Tampax box has gone untouched."  
  
Max opened her mouth to say something, but closed it, as her eyes grew wider.  
  
"Maxie, do you get where I'm going with this?", Jondy asked rhetorically.  
  
"No, no. You're wrong. That, that can't be possible," Max stuttered.  
  
"Do we need to go over the birds and the bees talk," Jondy laughed, trying to lighten the intense mood.  
  
"I don't believe this," came Max's only response as she got up from the couch and walked slowly into her bedroom.  
  
Lying down on her bed, Max felt the tears welling up in her eyes trickle down her cheeks one by one. There was no denying it; after that night, she was pregnant with Logan's child. She thought she was ready to try to get out of her depression, but she could never get herself far enough from Logan now.  
  
**********Flashback**********  
  
  
  
A/N: That took a little longer than expected to get up, but school's been a bitch. I've had two finals, two major tests, three oral presentations, and an essay in addition to the regular crap this week alone; you all know how it goes. This three-day weekend couldn't come fast enough!  
  
Well, tell me what you thought about this chapter. Sucked, didn't suck? Same rule as before, no chapter 4 until I get reviews! 


	4. Pandora Reopened

A/N: Since I was told I was too brief on how Max and Jondy met up in the last chapter, I added a little more to that. (See, I do too read the reviews yous leave me!) So if you wanna read that, go back to chapter 3. I'll admit, I didn't put in a ton, but use your imagination to fill in the banks. ;)  
  
Ok, it has also been brought to my attention that people are finding the angst depressing and want to se Max and Logan together. everybody slaps Kristi upside the head Ok, I'll tell you straight up; we still have a little ways to go until they're reunited. It will come, trust me, it will. everybody goes to choke Kristi to death I have a plot, I swear! Just bear with me, ok?  
  
Aiight, so who's ready to meet Alexa?  
  
  
  
Chapter 4: Pandora Reopened  
  
Ontario, Canada  
  
May, 2036  
  
"C'mon, pick up," 14-year-old Alexa Colette Guevara, or Lex, as she was usually called, mumbled into her cell phone after hearing a third ring.  
  
"You've reached my voice mail. Leave a message and I'll hit you back," she heard her mother's voice play back.  
  
"Mom, pick up, I know you're there," Lex rolled her eyes after hearing the shrill beep of the machine.  
  
"You know me too well," Max offered as a greeting, smiling to herself as reached over and picked up the phone.  
  
"Gee, I wonder why," Lex laughed back. "I'm going down to the park with Kayla, her mom's making her watch Kyle. I'll be home for dinner, ok?"  
  
"Sure, just watch the time. You were late last time you said that."  
  
"I will. See ya," Lex promised as she turned off her phone. Running down the street, she caught up with her best friend, "Ok, I can come, but I have to be home for dinner so I have about three hours."  
  
"Ok, hopefully the little monster will have worn himself out by then," Kayla smirked.  
  
Lex and Kayla had been best friends since Lex come to Ontario when they were both four. The two girls were always mistaken for sisters, which they got a kick out of when they were younger. Lex was three inches taller than Kayla, but both girls had the same long brown hair that fell in soft curls at the ends and chocolate brown eyes. When Lex was born, Max was relieved to look into eyes identical to her own; Logan's piercing blue eyes were one of Max's favorite things about him and she didn't know how she could have looked into those same eyes on their child every day.  
  
"Les and Taya!" Kyle screeched as he saw the two girls approaching.  
  
The two-year-old blonde power ball launched himself into the space between the girls' shoulders, causing them to stumble back. Kyle was a psuedo little brother to Lex, since she was an only child. The only family she had was her mom and her Aunt Jondy.  
  
Lex reached out and caught Kyle as Kayla grumbled, "Tire himself out my ass," and rolled her eyes.  
  
"We'll be back by six, Mrs. Bennett," Lex shouted as she waved to Kayla and Kyle's mother.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Yeah, but then Kayla went shooting off the slide and fell into all this wet sand, which we later found out was wet because some kid hadn't quite mastered the art of using the potty yet," Lex reiterated the adventures of her afternoon to Max.  
  
Max started to crack up and cough at the same time, "Don't do that when I'm swallowing! Oh god, I can imagine how she must have screamed when you guys found that out."  
  
"Yeah, that's when we went home," Lex laughed, finishing off the last of the pizza in front of them.  
  
Putting her plate in the dishwasher and gathering up her scattered homework, Lex settled down on the couch and flipped through the TV channels until she found an old episode of That 70s Show. Apparently, after the Pulse hit and America was desperate for money, Canada had bought the tapes and copyrights of a bunch of American shows. Come to think of it, Canada had bought of lot of America's tangible pop culture, but if that brought her entertainment, who was she to question it.  
  
After growing bored with the TV, Lex peeked in the kitchen to see her mother hovered over her laptop. Noting the telltale sign she was deep in thought and oblivious to the rest of the world, her lips being pursed together, Lex figured this would be the perfect opportunity to go trough the old shoebox in Max's closet; the one that made her freeze up every time she looked at it.  
  
Slowly backing away, Lex crept into her mother's room and wiggled the box out the corner it was wedged in. Hurrying across the hall, she locked the door to the bathroom behind her and removed the lid. The box's contents had to be from when her mom lived in Seattle because Max was standing in front of a place called Jam Pony in one of the pictures. Lex was skilled when it came to computers, and she had found some information on the messenger service about a year ago. Lex had always hoped that one time she would find a picture of her father in there, but she'd never had such luck. There were always the same pictures; her mom and some black woman, both standing over bikes, a blonde woman making a suggestive but playful smirk at the camera, a picture of Max on her Ninja, sticking her tongue out with a pair of yellow-lensed sunglasses pulled onto her head, and there was Max's ID from Jam Pony. Lex had all those things somewhat figured out; she knew the two women must have been friends of her mom's, but she didn't know anything beyond that, and Max had told her once that she worked as a bike messenger in Seattle. And then there was the poem. The paper had obviously been folded and refolded a myriad of times. Lex had never asked about it, tat would force her to admit she'd been creeping around Max's things, but she was sure it had something to do with her father.  
  
Sighing, Lex put everything back in the box and quietly snuck it back to its corner. Shouting good night to Max, she walked off to her room. Lex wasn't tired, it was only 11:00 and she had inherited Max's sleeping patterns, but she liked to just sit in her room, staring out the window and thinking. Sometimes she would join Max on the Skylon, but tonight she was just staying in.  
  
"Forever eyes, dark, somebody's angel," those words played over and over in her head. It seemed as if, perhaps, the million and second time she said the words, suddenly a door would open up and she would know everything about her father. But when she awoke the next morning after having thought herself to sleep, those were still the same empty words, written by a face she couldn't see.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Manhattan, New York  
  
"Sir, we have new development on the search for 452," Otto informed White as he made his way into the old office building.  
  
"And what would that development be, Otto?" White asked, slightly agitated. For fifteen years they had been searching for 452 after she escaped in Seattle and ever since she and the other X5 had escaped in Chicago every 'development' had led to a dead end.  
  
Walking over to White's desk, Otto took a photo out of his coat pocket and laid it front of him, "What do you make of this?"  
  
White studied the picture for a brief moment. It was of a teenager with long brown hair sitting on top of a slide pointing and laughing at something out of the camera's view.  
  
"What the hell am I supposed to make of this? It's a picture of some girl? How is she going to lead us to 452?"  
  
"We've been following the trail of who we think if 452 in Ontario for a few months. I think that girl might be her daughter. Not only is there a striking physical resemblance, but after uncovering her school records, we've found that the girl has exhibited unusually advanced intellectual and physical abilities, as well," Otto explained.  
  
Taking this in, an eerie smile tugged at White's lips, "452 has offspring. Good work, Otto. I want seats on the next flight to Ontario."  
  
"Yes, sir," Otto nodded as backed out of the room.  
  
Turning to the window behind him, White whispered as he looked at the starry black sky, "I'm coming for you, 452. And this time I'll win."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Seattle, Washington  
  
"Hello?" Logan mumbled into the phone. Glancing over at his clock he shook his head thinking, "Who the hell would call at one in the morning?"  
  
"Logan Cale," came a familiar voice.  
  
Snapping awake, Logan's eyes widened as he registered whose voice was on the other end.  
  
  
  
A/N: So, who do ya think is calling Logan? ;) Leave me a review with your guess cuz some of you might be surprised….  
  
And even of you don't wanna guess, leave me a review anyway just saying that you are, in fact, still reading this story. Pretty pretty please? 


	5. Now or Never

A/N: Well, I must say I am impressed. Becky and Jude Mustard- yous are the only people who guessed right! Conga rats to yous!  
  
You wanted it to be Max on the phone didn't you? Or maybe you thought it was White. Well guess what? You're wrong! Kristi throws her head back and does her evil laugh But, as long as you reviewed, it's ok. I still love yous.  
  
And in response to Jude Mustard's comment about how in all M/L future fics they have a daughter, not a son-  
  
I'd guess the reason for that is because I see more girls who write M/L fics than guys. And though I can't speak for all of them, it's easier for me to get inside a girl's head, for obvious reasons. So if more guys wrote M/L future fics, I'd guess they'd have more sons.  
  
Now, for everyone else who guessed wrong, I'll bet you want me to shut up so you can find out who's calling Logan…. Or maybe you stopped reading this already…. Or maybe I should shut up now….  
  
  
  
Chapter 5: Now or Never  
  
Seattle, Washington  
  
May, 2036  
  
"I believe I have some information that might interest you, Mr. Cale."  
  
"What kind of information?" Logan questioned. He was still in shock to be hearing from Lydecker after almost fifteen years.  
  
"I'm sure you're familiar with Ames White and his operation," Lydecker's gruff voice began. "I have been tracking their activity in Canada for several years and there is no doubt in my mind the person they're after is Max."  
  
Swallowing hard, Logan felt his heart twist when Lydecker mentioned her name. Years ago, he had accepted her leaving Seattle, but to say he had gotten over it would be a lie. Logan always held tight to the fervent hope that she'd return someday.  
  
"Max? She's in Canada? Is she ok? How long has she been there?" Logan could barely keep up with his thoughts as he tried to ask all the questions in his mind at once.  
  
"I understand your concerns, son, but right now I can't answer any of those questions. As far as my information is concerned, Max has had encounters with White in Chicago and Nova Scotia." After a tense pause, Lydecker began again, "The reason I'm contacting you is because I want your help."  
  
"And how exactly would I help you?" Logan asked, remembering that Max had asked him not to come after her.  
  
"I need your hacking abilities. You were excellent with that during the raid on Manticore, I assume you still have those skills."  
  
"How do I know I can trust you? You call me out of the blue, at one in the morning, when you disappeared almost fifteen years ago."  
  
"You'll trust me if you ever want to see Max again. Now you're probably tired, so I'll speak to you tomorrow," Lydecker remarked as he disconnected the call.  
  
Logan stared at his phone, confused and shocked. Lying back down, he stared at the ceiling, the phone still clutched in his hand, wondering how he was supposed to get any sleep now.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Ontario, Canada  
  
"Lex, Max? Anybody home?" Jondy called out, walking into their apartment.  
  
Finding Lex on the couch, watching some new anime show, Jondy plopped down next to her and looked over at the screen of the laptop in Lex's lap.  
  
"Procrastinating," Lex replied matter-of-factly, cocking her head towards the pile of textbooks next to her feet on the coffee table.  
  
Laughing at her niece's answer, Jondy caught a brief look at mischief in Lex's eyes, "And just what are you doing? Since when do you have a website?"  
  
"I don't," Lex said, a mischievous grin spreading across her lips. "I'm 'fixing' the ones of the people I don't like."  
  
"How?" Jondy asked, confused.  
  
"It's not hard. You just hack into their accounts and go," Lex shrugged as she made faux bullet holes in a picture of the latest fad boy band.  
  
When Lex talked about hacking, the amused look on Jondy's face fell instantly. Hoping to plaster on a smile before Lex caught it, Jondy nodded and turned her face to the TV.  
  
"What?" Lex questioned, catching the sudden change in her aunt's mood. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing," Jondy lied quickly.  
  
Something in Jondy's face told Lex not to question it further, so she filed the look on Jondy's face away in her head for future reference.  
  
Hearing the front door open and Max walk in, Jondy seized the opportunity to get away from the couch, "Hey Max."  
  
"Jondy, is everything ok?" Max asked, taking notice of the strange look on Jondy's face.  
  
Lowering her voice and following Max into the kitchen, Jondy glanced back in the direction of the living room.  
  
"Logan was always awesome with hacking and computers, right?"  
  
"Yeah, he was," Max sighed. After fifteen years it was still painful to talk about him.  
  
"Well, Lex is getting more like him every day. She's putting her hacking skills to use right now," Jondy said lightly.  
  
Nodding quietly Max whispered, "At least she doesn't have his eyes."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Seattle, Washington  
  
Logan locked the Aztek and walked towards the entrance to Crash. His second conversation with Lydecker hadn't given him much more information than the first. All he knew was that Max was in Canada, White was closing in on her, and this was his chance to see her again.  
  
Once inside, Logan spotted Original Cindy sitting at a table in the back. Catching his eye, she waved him over and smiled.  
  
"Long time no see, Logan. What's this big dealio you just had to tell me?" She jumped right in.  
  
Since Max had left, Logan and Cindy had stayed in touch. At first, it was mainly Cindy checking up on Logan to make sure he hadn't gone crazy, but after a little while they formed a friendship of their own.  
  
"Well, I got a phone call last night, and I thought you might wanna know about it."  
  
After a pause, Cindy narrowed her eyes, "You just gonna stop there and make Original Cindy drag the rest outta yo' ass?"  
  
Laughing slightly, Logan continued, "No. Um, ok, here it goes. I might find Max." As Cindy's eyes bulged out, Logan started speaking faster before she could get a word in. "Lydecker called me last night and this afternoon telling me that White was closing in on Max in Canada and he wanted my help, or more my hacking skills to help him track Max down and get her out." Stopping for a breath Logan added more hushed tone, "This doesn't mean we'll actually find her, she might have already left. It doesn't mean she's coming back either; she may have moved on."  
  
Sliding over and slipping an arm around Logan's shoulders, Cindy smiled reassuringly, "Logan, Max would not have just gotten over you. She never could and she never will. And now you've got the chance to find her, so I better see yo' ass leaving Seattle to where ever it is you gotta go. Don't be thinkin' you can't save her, cuz with that attitude you won't. Now you give my boo a hug for me when you find her, got it?"  
  
Logan smiled and nodded, "Thanks, I will." Turning his head to the bar he more stated than asked, "Another pitcher on me?"  
  
"Like Original Cindy would turn down free beer?" Cindy laughed, handing the nearly empty pitcher to Logan.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Ontario, Canada  
  
Stepping out of the black town car, White surveyed the city around him, "Do we know where 452 is, Otto?"  
  
"Not yet, Sir, but we do know she's in this city. We're doing everything we can to find out her exact location."  
  
"And the offspring?"  
  
"She's who we're primarily trying to find. She shouldn't be able to detect us and inadvertently lead us right to 452."  
  
"Then get moving," White ordered.  
  
"Yes, Sir," Otto obeyed, heading off to deploy their team.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Ok, I'm stopping there cuz writer's block is making its long overdue appearance and I don't wanna keep yous waiting for too long. If you wanna see a M/L reunion, well, the more people who let me know they're reading this story, the faster yous might see it happen. 


	6. Suspicion

A/N: Thank you everyone for the reviews! I know yous want a M/L soon and Lex and Logan meeting. Trust me, it's coming. We've got Logan going to Canada now, White's close to finding Max; we're almost there!  
  
______________________________________________________________________  
  
  
  
Chapter 6: Suspicion  
  
Ontario, Canada  
  
Sitting on a bench in the middle pf the park, Lex settled her laptop in front of her and signed into a chat.  
  
"C'mon, where are you?" She mumbled to herself as she sipped her coffee and scrolled through the list of screen names.  
  
Finding Kayla's on the list, Lex clicked on it and started relaying the previous days misadventures to her since Kayla had been out sick from school.  
  
Across the jogging path, Otto hunched behind an area of bushes and quietly reached for his com, "Target has been spotted."  
  
"Then go get her," White's voice snapped through to his ear.  
  
"Yes, Sir." Otto replied, signaling his two companions to move.  
  
Just as the three men got ready to pull out their guns, they heard someone approaching.  
  
"Lex!" They saw a woman run up to the girl. "C'mon," The woman took Lex's arm and led her away.  
  
Unsure of what to do next, Otto reached for his com again, "Sir, the girl just left."  
  
"What do you mean 'left'?" White's icy voice said.  
  
"A woman come up to her and led her away. It wasn't 452; it was someone else. And she called the girl Lex."  
  
"Well find out who took 'Lex' and where they went!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Max!" Jondy shouted, rushing into the apartment and dragging a highly confused Lex behind her.  
  
"Jondy, what's going on?" Max asked, walking out of the kitchen. Taking note of Jondy's heavy breathing, Max became worried, "Why are you flushed?"  
  
"Yeah, care to let us know what the hell has gotten into you?" Lex backed her mother up.  
  
"You, stop imitating you mother's mouth." Jondy chided Lex. "And you," she continued to Max, "You might wanna get the duffel out again."  
  
"What? Why?" Max exasperated. Then her eyes widened when she realized what Jondy was saying. "No, no. How could he have found us? We haven't dealt with him in years!"  
  
"It gets worse," Jondy interrupted Max's ranting. "They were going after Lex."  
  
"That's impossible. They don't know she even exists!" Max was desperately trying to reason that her life wasn't getting shot to hell all over again.  
  
"Ok, how about we not talk about me like I'm not standing right here," Lex snapped. "Now what's going on that you guys aren't telling me about cuz I'm guessing it effects me and I wanna know."  
  
Exchanging cautious glances, Max took Lex's shoulder and led her into the kitchen.  
  
"I'll stand guard, but I don't think they followed us," Jondy offered as she walked over to the window.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Toronto, Canada  
  
"Have you found anything?" Lydecker peered over Logan's shoulder.  
  
"Nothing I can make out, no," Logan replied scrunching his forehead in confusion. 'I hacked into the signals from their coms, but I don't understand anything their saying."  
  
"Could pick up the signals any clearer?"  
  
"No, it's not that. It sounds like they're after some girl, a teenager. But then in the next breath their talking about Max again. I can't make it all into something straight."  
  
"Well, I assume we'll find out who this other girl is soon enough," Lydecker replied. "Have you found Max's location?"  
  
"White's got his guys all around Niagara Falls," Logan answered, his thought seeming to drift into a void as he voiced Max's location.  
  
Giving a brief nod, Lydecker simply answered, "Let's move out."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
After hearing the whole story about exactly what was going on, Lex leaned back in her chair and let out a deep breath.  
  
"Say something; anything," Max pleaded after a pause a little too long for her comfort.  
  
"Wow," was all Lex could muster up, nodding slowly as she processed everything she had just learned. Suddenly a thought popped into her mind, and despite what her coconscious warned she went ahead with it. "That was why you left Seattle, isn't it?"  
  
Her head snapping at her daughter's sudden question, Max stammered, "What? Why, uh, why would you say that?"  
  
"Well, if this White guy is the reason you and Aunt Jondy left Nova Scotia, and he was already on your tail before that, then it makes sense that he was also the reason you left Seattle. After all, you said that's the last place you lived before you came to Canada." Playing off her mother's shocked yet guilty expression, Lex continued, "What's wrong?" After a tense pause, Lex added, "You left someone there you never got to say goodbye to."  
  
"Lex, please," Max begged as tears began to well up in her eyes. She wasn't ready to tell that particular story, not yet. Lex deserved to know, but she didn't where to start, and right now she was too frantic to even think about it.  
  
Having seen her mother cry like that only once before in her life, Lex knew whomever she had just brought up was someone who meant a lot to Max. Looking into her mother's eyes, it finally dawned on her.  
  
"He was my father, wasn't he?" She more stated then asked in a whisper only transgenic hearing could pick up.  
  
Max stared at her hands fisted together on the table and nodded subtly; unable to hold her tears back any longer. She wasn't exactly sobbing, but the way the tears rolled down her cheeks, she looked like a lost little girl whose entire world had just been shot to hell right before her eyes. Not being able to stand seeing her mother like this, Lex moved over and wordlessly wrapped her arms around Max's shoulders.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"That's her," Otto pointed out a photo of a young woman in one of White's files.  
  
"Another freak, just great," White gritted his teeth. "So not only is 452 traveling with offspring, but there's another X5 with them as well. It's the other X5 from Nova Scotia."  
  
"Should we alter the mission at all, Sir?" Otto asked.  
  
"No, Otto, that won't be necessary. 452 will be willing to give herself up for her offspring and the other X5 has no doubt formed some kind of emotional bond with the girl. So as long as we put her in danger, the X5s shouldn't put up too much of a fight," White reasoned.  
  
"What should we do with the transgenics after we capture them?"  
  
"I think you know quite well what I want done with 452, Otto.' At Otto's nod he went on, "The other X5 can be terminated as well. It's the girl I'd like brought back alive. She presents an interesting research opportunity. I want to know if 452 could pass certain abilities, immunities, to her offspring."  
  
"Yes, Sir."  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
  
  
A/N: And here we reach where writer's block plagues me yet again. But I'll have lots of time to sit and think in the coming days since I always finish my finals early, so chapter 7 shouldn't take as long as this one to get up. Given, of course, that I get reviews. If I don't yous will be waiting a very long time. Kristi does an evil laugh 


	7. Running Out of Time

A/N: FF.net hasn't wanted to let me in for the last few days, so now that it's working again, this chapter is finally up! Not much else to say here this time. Just that I hope to have chapter 8 up within a few days because I'll have so much time to kill after finals. (Why we need 1 ½ hours for a 70-question test is beyond me.)  
  
Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed; you guys are the best! Those who didn't review- why not?! It's easy and you don't have to type more than "still reading this". Just copy and paste that even.  
  
Aiight, I'm gonna shut up now. And yes, as I'm sure you can tell, we're getting closer to the M/L reunion, so hang in there.  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
  
Chapter 7: Running Out of Time  
  
"Alright, from what I can tell, this guy's got his goons all over the city. And what they were hoping for was to find me and follow me, figuring I'd lead them right to you," Lex concluded from the files open on her laptop.  
  
"But how did they know about you?" Max was still trying to calm herself down.  
  
"Beats me. But the point is they know about me, know what I look like and want me for research, whatever the hell that means."  
  
The thought of White and his breeding cult freaks performing experiments on her daughter sickened her. Thoughts of Logan still haunted her mind, and looking up to see Lex staring at her computer screen and scrunching her forehead didn't help.  
  
"Damn, they're so alike," Max silently thought with a bittersweet smile.  
  
"All right, I got coms, I got tazers, I got rope, and I got guns," Jondy announced walking into the Skylon, where they had moved their operation. "Max shut up, I already know all your anti-gun comments by heart," she quickly added as Max opened her mouth in protest. "What've we got?"  
  
"White's guys are all over the city and they wanted me to lead them to mom," Lex repeated.  
  
Shaking her head and cursing to herself, Jondy set down her findings, "I don't even wanna know how they found out about you."  
  
"Well, the bottom line is that they did," Max interjected. "And now we have to kick they're asses and probably leave town."  
  
"Where are we gonna go, Europe? Obviously the Canadian border isn't enough to keep White away," Jondy bitterly smirked.  
  
"Just clam down both of you. I'm trying to find out more and the two of you getting into a catfight sure as hell isn't gonna help the situation," Lex scolded the two.  
  
Knowing she was right, Max and Jondy formed a silent truce and went to work getting the weapons ready.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Hmm," Logan mumbled as he looked at a signal he had just picked up. He came across the signal from what seemed to be a laptop coming from right around the falls. Logan was confused as to the signal's origin; whoever was using the computer was after files similar to the ones he had just been looking for, giving the impression they were trying to track someone down. "No, it can't be Max looking for White," he told himself before his hopes got too high. "She couldn't hack into computers like that could she?" He thought back to the time Max had faked and Eyes Only broadcast to save his ass from Brock, but this person had set up what resembled a mini-informant net, and he doubted that Max could pull of something like that.  
  
"What have you found?" Logan heard Lydecker ask as he entered the room.  
  
"Still nothing that'll shed any light onto this. I found a signal from what looks like a laptop coming from around the falls, but I don't think it could be Max using it. This person has hacking skills that could even give Eyes Only a run for his money," Logan sighed. "Wait, were there any other X5 who were trained in those things, computer hacking? Maybe Max is working with someone else."  
  
"None were trained on the level you're describing, no. However, a second party is a possibility. Some of the X5s did escape to Canada."  
  
"Right," Logan's hope fell. "Well, I'll let you know is anything turns up, but I wanna look into this signal a little more. I have a hunch this person's after White."  
  
Nodding Lydecker turned and went over to the team of soldiers on other side of the warehouse where their operation had been set up.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"You better have something for me, Otto," White stormed towards the team coming into their headquarters.  
  
"We searched the apartments, but they were all gone; 452, the other X5, and the girl. We have men crawling the city looking for them and we're dong everything we can, Sir." Otto spoke as fast as he could, fearing what White's reaction might be.  
  
Rage clouding his eyes, White straightened as face and said a and eerily calm voice, "Then do more."  
  
As White turned and walked away, Otto let out the breath he had been holding. Knowing White was angry and how badly he wanted 452 dead, Otto rushed back out to his car, hoping as hard as he could that they would find the three transgenics soon.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Damn it!" Lex swore to herself as a warning popped up on her screen for the third time.  
  
"I'm guessing that's not good," Jondy turned her attention to Lex.  
  
"I keep getting the warning that someone picked up the signal. And whoever it is is tracing it."  
  
"That can't be good," Jondy rushed over to the computer.  
  
A window popped up showing the trace was almost complete. Sighing and cursing, Lex shut down the laptop. She'd lost most of the information she'd gathered, but whoever picked up the signal had tried tracing her too many times for comfort.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Walking grudgingly back to the van, Logan let out a huffy breath.  
  
"I lost the signal," he informed Lydecker. "Whoever it was must have shut down the laptop, I guess they picked up that I was trying to trace them," Logan reasoned aloud, more for himself than Lydecker.  
  
Though Logan didn't tell Lydecker, he was oddly impressed. He had all the latest and best software available and it took a high level of skill to detect him.  
  
"Did you get any idea of who this person was?" Lydecker pursued, hoping to get some new leads.  
  
"No, all I know is that they're right on the falls."  
  
"Then we'll move out," Lydecker ordered.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Still no sign of the transgenics," one of White's men reported into his com.  
  
"Keep looking, check the sewers. Those freaks are out there somewhere," White repeated. His already non-existent patience was running out and he was ready to head down into the sewers himself to look for them.  
  
White could feel Max's presence around him, making him cringe and the rage inside him grow. She had the antibodies against the pathogen the snakes carried. Her blood would save all the ordinaries when The Coming occurred; ruining everything the breeding cult had worked for over thousands of years. He wanted nothing more than to see her death.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Gazing at the starry night sky Max sighed to herself at the irony it held. She felt as if her entire life was getting shot to hell in one night. She had only wanted to be able to give Lex the life she never had. Without Logan in the picture, that wasn't possible, but she had tried none-the- less. And now, in one moment, that little bit of normalcy was gone. Lex was forced to run and fight the same way Max had. Blaming herself, Max felt her eyes start to water yet again at her failure. Then an even more morbid thought crept into her mind; what would have kept White from killing Logan anyway? If he was still so passionate about finding and killing her, wouldn't it make sense that he would have killed Logan despite her running from Seattle?  
  
"No, Max, you can't think like that," she silently reprimanded herself. "You have to keep thinking that Logan's alive. White wants you, not him."  
  
"Mom," Lex called to Max, abruptly interrupting her train of thought. "You alright?"  
  
"Yeah," Max sighed. "Emotional overload, I guess."  
  
"Liar," Lex smirked, "There's something else."  
  
"Weird feeling," Max answered tersely. "I'll deal with it later," she added as Lex shot her a skeptical glare.  
  
After a tense pause, Lex dug up the nerve to ask the question that she'd never been able to push out of her mind, "Did he write you that poem?"  
  
Whipping her head around, Max stared wide-eyed at her daughter, "What?!"  
  
Realizing she'd just admitted she'd gone through that shoebox, Lex suppressed any fear of punishment and went on, "That poem, "Forever eyes, dark, somebody's angel", Dad wrote that for you, didn't he?"  
  
"First off, why the hell do you know about that?" Max was still in utter shock at Lex's sudden interrogation.  
  
"Punish me later. Right now I wanna know about the poem," Lex pushed her luck.  
  
Sighing, Max succumbed to defeat and drew in a deep, apprehensive breath, "Yeah, he wrote it for me; well, more about me. About nine or ten months after we met, I caught him red-handed writing poetry. I kept bugging him to let me see his 'lyrical pen scratchings' and when he gave in, he showed me that one."  
  
"And you took it," Lex finished, imitating the small smile that spread across her mother's lips. "Did he do little romantic stuff like that a lot?"  
  
"We weren't like that," Max resurrected that signature response.  
  
"Then what were you like? You had to be like something; after all, I exist," Lex rolled her eyes.  
  
"It's a long story," Max protested.  
  
"Well, you got any other brilliant ideas on how to pass the time?" Lex argued; obviously she wasn't going to give up on this.  
  
Letting out another defeated sigh, Max started to reiterate the story she'd never be able to forget, starting with catching the fateful glimpse of the Bast statue that changed her life forever.  
  
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A/N: So—good, not good? Boring, interesting? You tell me. If there's something you want me to change or add to, well, you gotta review. Please leave me one, cuz like I've said a million times before, I'm not uploading a new chapter (yes, even if I have it written) until I get enough reviews for this one. And perhaps I'll mention that the next chapter will contain a certain reunion…. Yeah, you wouldn't want me to just not post that now would you? The review button is right below this… 


	8. Just To See You

A/N: Jaws music starts playing It's coming… that moment you've all been waiting for…. the M/L reunion. Yes, it is actually coming.  
  
Trice- wow, you must be physic or something! Already had the battle in before I read the reviews. ;)  
  
All yous are the best- thank you so much for the reviews! Yous all being such awesome reviewers makes me want to get these chapters up as fast as I can!  
  
Just a reminder that this story stared pre-SAH, so anything in that ep through FN never happened; that might save you a little confusion later in the chapter.  
  
And cuz I love you guys, this chapter is long, about twice as long as the other ones I've written. So that's my little present. Now I'm sure you all want me to shut up seeing as how this is THE chapter and all….  
  
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Chapter 8: Just To See You  
  
"See if you can pick up that signal again, son," Lydecker ordered Logan.  
  
"I've been trying, it's still gone," Logan slumped back in his seat.  
  
"You're sure it had something to do with Max?" Lydecker reverted to being skeptical.  
  
"That's what it looked like to me," Logan explained again. "Whoever it was was going after all the same information I was when I was trying to find White."  
  
"The location of the signal?" Lydecker asked, loading his gun.  
  
"Right on the water."  
  
Nodding, Lydecker gave a brief order to his troops and they headed off.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Sir, we've searched the entire city, they're nowhere," Otto apprehensively reported to White.  
  
"Well have you tried using anything, Otto?" White's voice took an icy edge, his eyes clouding over with rage.  
  
"Even the thermal imager, Sir. We've exhausted every method, even searched the sewers. We think the transgenics detected us and left the city."  
  
"Look again. Nobody rests until they're taken care of."  
  
Afraid to defy or question White's orders, Otto gave a dutiful nod and backed out the door.  
  
"Otto," White stopped him, "search the apartment again. There might be something there to indicate where they're hiding."  
  
After Otto had left the warehouse, White turned and looked at a mug-like picture of Max set out on a crate in front of him as he loaded a gun, "You haven't outsmarted me 452. And unfortunately for you, those lab geeks didn't make you immune to bullets."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"… and then we ended up here. I guess you know the rest from that point," Max took a much-needed breath after telling the whole story of her and Logan to Lex.  
  
Unsure of what to say, Lex just sat there and nodded her head, thinking about everything she'd just heard, "No wonder she never talks about it. And to be forced to leave right after they were finally able to- Ok, end that image. There's something I don't wanna think about." Smirking to herself at that last thought, she finally turned to Max and asked, "So what's that got to do with this weird feeling you have?"  
  
"I wish I knew. It just feels like something's gonna happen," Max struggled to put it into words, and was failing miserably.  
  
"Hate to break it to you, but something already did happen. In case you hadn't noticed," Lex laughed lightly, rolling her eyes.  
  
"I thought you were tracking White," Max tried to tell Lex off.  
  
"Nope, sorry, not getting rid of me that easily."  
  
"Hey," Jondy stuck her head out the window, "as much as I hate to break up this little bonding moment, we kinda have a somebody's-looking-to-kill-us- and-is-right-in-the-city kinda situation here. So Lex, try and trace the bastard again, and Max put yourself in solider mode, because we're gonna need that."  
  
As they sighed simultaneously, Max and Lex shared a brief hug before Lex turned to head back inside.  
  
"Oh, cuz you asked, I came out here after someone kept trying to track my signal. I dunno who, but they were good and they weren't giving up, so I shut my laptop off," Lex told Max over her shoulder.  
  
Max inwardly shuddered at hearing Lex talk about signals and tracking, it reminded her of Logan so much. But it was her comment about someone tracking her and them being good that really made Max's intuition do a flip- flop.  
  
"God, I hope White doesn't have guys who could do that," she thought to herself before turning and heading inside herself.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Area's deserted, Sir. No sign of them," one of Lydecker's men reported upon coming back from searching the area around the falls.  
  
"Dammit," Lydecker swore to himself. Contemplating his next move, he fidgeted with the pen in his hand.  
  
"I guess I could try picking up that signal again. It could lead us to something," Logan suggested, bring up the proper software again.  
  
"Very well," Lydecker agreed, "let us know what you find; we'll be searching the area again."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Tearing through Max's apartment, White scowled as he found no new leads.  
  
"Agent White," one of his men came up behind him, "we've searched the apartment, and the apartment of the other X5; we found nothing to indicate where they went. Nobody saw them and the girl or has any idea of where they could be."  
  
White turned to picture of Max and Lex on a table in front of him. They were standing on a beach, Lex holding a surfboard next to her and Max was laughing as she reached across Lex, trying to take it. White raised hid gun to the photo and pulled the trigger, causing the glass to shatter and piercing a hole in the image of the two before he stormed out of the building.  
  
Just as White was opening his car door, he heard Otto calling out to him, "Agent White! Have you found any new leads, Sir?"  
  
"Do I look like a happy man, Otto?" White snapped. "They're still in this city, 452 would have taken some of her things if she'd left. Question more people, she'd not getting away this time," he ordered, closing the door and driving off.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"C'mon, c'mon," Lex tried to give her computer a pep talk, "hurry up." As a window popped up saying "trace complete", Lex quickly closed out the program and did her little victory dance.  
  
"Oh no, now what did you do?" Max knew that dance too well to over look it.  
  
"Ok, you remember that guy who was tracing me?" Lex hinted.  
  
"Alexa, what did you do?" Max meant business when she used Lex's real name.  
  
Copying down something off her screen, a mischievous smile spread across Lex's face, "I traced him. The mad hacker strikes again!" Laughing, she handed the cell phone number she'd written down to Max.  
  
Casting a glare at Lex, Max shook her head and sighed. As Lex disappeared off to join Jondy, Max looked down at the number written on the paper. She recognized it instantly; she could never forget it.  
  
"Oh my god," was her last coherent thought as her head started to spin and the world around her went black.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Logan stared wide-eyed at the computer screen in front of him. He'd been traced; that had never happened to him before. He was Eyes Only for Pete's sake!  
  
"What happened to you?" Lydecker interrupted Logan's train of thought, making him jump.  
  
Not knowing exactly what to say, Logan went with the first thing that popped into his mind, "Going after that signal is no longer an option."  
  
"And why would that be?"  
  
"They traced me. I've never been traced before," Logan rambled mindlessly. Stopping to take another breath, Logan added, "But now I'm sure it wasn't Max. She could work with computers, but she wouldn't be able to pull off tracing me, not with the software I have up."  
  
"Well we'll just have to find who could," Lydecker challenged.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Opening the window to let a little fresh air into the musty section of the abandoned Skylon, Lex's ears suddenly perked up. She had inherited nearly all of Max's advanced traits, but her hearing surpassed even her mother's and Jondy's.  
  
Noting the changed in Lex's posture, Jondy signed to her, "What do you hear?"  
  
"Voices," Lex whispered back. "They're coming from the park; I thought nobody was there."  
  
She stepped out to try and get a better idea of what the voices were saying and Jondy followed, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to hear as well as Lex. After listening for a few minutes, Lex tried to get a good look at the men. Lex didn't recognize the voices as any she had ever heard before, but she couldn't make out exactly what they were saying.  
  
"Can you see them over there?" Lex asked Jondy pointing to a grove of trees in the park across the Horseshoe Falls. "I can't hear the that well, the water keeps interfering."  
  
"No… wait, yeah, I can," Jondy focused in as best she could. "No! No no no!"  
  
"What's no?" Lex asked, getting a little worried by the tone of Jondy's voice.  
  
"Do you know who those men are?!" Jondy chocked.  
  
"Why yes, of course I do. That's why I asked," Lex's voice dripped with sarcasm.  
  
"All right, we don't need you attitude right now. Those are Manticore tact teams."  
  
"Wait, I thought Mom torched that place back in 2020 or something," Lex was bordering on confused.  
  
"She did. So the fact that they're there when they should be is what has me worried." Pausing to think of what to do, Jondy turned to Lex, "You go back inside and I'm gonna go check it out over there."  
  
"What? Why do I have to go in? I wanna go!" Lex protested.  
  
Jondy simply pointed at the window again, "I don't think so."  
  
"No, really, just hear me out," Lex begged. "A tact team would have a commander or something, right?"  
  
"Yeah…."  
  
"And that commander would probably recognize you, right?" Lex went on.  
  
"I guess it's possible," Jondy reluctantly agreed.  
  
"Well, if I went, they would have no idea who I am; I could just be some other regular kid loitering around the park. So I'd be able to get closer than you would. And I have all you and Mom's abilities and you two trained me so I could so kick their asses. But I doubt I'd have to do that."  
  
Knowing Lex was right; Jondy finally gave in, "Fine. But if you're not back in an hour I'm coming after you."  
  
Squealing, Lex flashed Jondy a bright smile identical to Max's and scaled her way down the outside of the building.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Finally coming to, Max shook her head and looked around, "Lex? Lex, come here!"  
  
"What are you doing on the floor, you look like you got hit by a truck," Jondy came around the corner.  
  
"Look at this," Max handed the piece of paper to Jondy.  
  
"Looks like a phone number to me. Where'd you get this?"  
  
"From Lex. It's the number of the guy who was tracing her," Max explained.  
  
"So I guess step two is to find out who this guy is," Jondy started to head over to Lex's computer.  
  
"Where is Lex anyway?" Max quickly asked.  
  
"She went out." Seeing Max's expression, Jondy put up her finger to silence Max and went on, "not to freak you out but right now there are Manticore tact teams over in the park and we think they're looking for us. I wasn't gonna let Lex go over there, I was gonna, but then she talked me into letting her go. They don't know who she is, so she could get closer to them for longer than we could. And just from seeing her they're not gonna come after us." Brining up map Lex had minimized, Jondy studied it for a minute before waving Max over, "Uh, Maxie, you might wanna come take a look at this."  
  
"What? What's the map for?"  
  
"Ok, here's us," Jondy pointed to a red dot on the full-screen map of the city. "And here's the guy she traced," she pointed to a blinking dot right next to the red one.  
  
"W-what? No!" Max shouted in disbelief. Turning to the window, Max climbed out as fast as she could.  
  
"Maxie? Where do you think you're going?"  
  
"To get Lex, where do you think I'm going," Max answered curtly.  
  
"She'll be fine, you've seen her fight before," Jondy tried to reassure Max.  
  
"That cell number, Jondy," Max started.  
  
"Yeah, I know, I'm working on it," Jondy groaned, rolling her eyes as she picked up the paper.  
  
"No, you don't know," Max interjected. "That number is Logan's," she added quietly as she scaled down the building herself, leaving Jondy to sit behind, in awe and shock at what she had just been told.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Control, this is Alpha one, there is no sign of the targets. Over," the leader of the unit to Lydecker.  
  
Letting out a disgruntled sigh, Lydecker ordered the troops, "All units keep looking. Find them. Over."  
  
Lex knelt down behind a bunch of bushes next to the van, listening in.  
  
"Ok," she thought to herself, "one commander, that must be that Lydecker guy, and two teams of four. With Mom and Aunt Jondy we could take out nine guys easy. Now if I could only get into that van… "  
  
Ducking back down when Lydecker turned around Lex heard him say into the van, "I'm gonna head out and search, see if you can think of anything else to do."  
  
"If I picked up that signal right here about ten minutes ago, whoever it was couldn't have gone too far."  
  
"So there's a tenth person," Lex said silently to herself. "Ok, still no problem. Scratch snooping around the van though." Just then she remember her 'normal kid' idea. Once all the troops and Lydecker were out of her hearing range, she backed out of the bushes and headed for the jogging path. Creeping towards the van, she zeroed in on the man sitting there. He appeared to be in his mid-40s, but had no uniform or barcode, eliminating the possibility that he was a soldier or an X series. Curious, Lex started walking towards the van, careful to stay as quiet as she could.  
  
"Hey," she called to the man inside. "What are doing here?"  
  
Stunned, Logan swiveled his chair around, "Huh?"  
  
"Well, it's not often ya see a van with high-tech computer crap like this sitting in the middle of the park at 11:30 at night. Not in this city anyway," Lex kept her face as indifferent as she could.  
  
Logan blinked several times, almost in shock at what he was seeing. If hadn't known better, he would have mistaken this girl for Max.  
  
Before Logan had a chance to respond, Lydecker came around the van, "Son, see if you can-," Lydecker stopped mid-sentence Lex caught his eye. He knew that face and those eyes anywhere. "So it's true," he said, looking at Lex.  
  
"What? What's true?" Lex was a little creeped out at the way Lydecker was looking at her.  
  
Turning to Logan, Lydecker asked, "Do you know who this is?"  
  
"You do?" Logan stepped out of the van, confused at why Lydecker seemed to be concerned about the girl.  
  
"And just how the hell do you know who I am?" Lex was starting to loose her patience.  
  
"Lex! Lex, where are you?" the three heard Max yelling.  
  
Max ran down the path, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw the two men her daughter was standing with.  
  
Max and Logan stared at each other with wide eyes for several minutes before Lydecker put everything together. Looking over to Lex, he said in a hushed tone, "You'll find out how I know soon enough," before walking off to find his troops.  
  
Both Max and Logan still frozen in place, Lex spoke up, finding the silence uncomfortable. "Ok, somebody wanna enlighten me here? Cuz there's obviously something I don't know," she looked back and forth between both her parents. "Nobody? Alrighty then," she mumbled after getting no response. Lex studied their faces for a few more minutes before something hit her. Whipping her head around to Max she pointed at Logan and stammered, "Is, is that…" she couldn't get the last words out of her throat.  
  
Max bit her lip and look down at her feet as she nodded her head slowly.  
  
  
  
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A/N: Aren't I evil? Yes, I know I am. But see, if you take 7 seconds of your precious time to click on the lovely little purple button at the bottom of the screen you just might see another chapter up, say… tomorrow. 


	9. An Oasis In Hell

A/N: See, I promised another chapter soon, and here it is. Hopefully this chapter will alleviate my evilness. Or maybe not….  
  
Alex (or Audrey, or whatever I'm supposed to call you now)- ok, let's assume that Logan was surprised to see someone who looked just like Max, but since he wasn't expecting to find that Max (and him) had a daughter, so the thought just never crossed his mind. And I'll get to Lex's abilities soon, she and Max are gonna have a lot to tell Logan, so I hope a lot a questions'll be answered then.  
  
Thank you all for the reviews- see; it doesn't take that long to do! And for those of you who like bribes- keep up the good work and I'll write, um…. lots more chapters!  
  
Those of you who noticed the tons of errors in chapter 8- yeah, I know they were there. I ran through the chapter again after I uploaded it, and I noticed all of them. But when I went to upload the fixed version, guess what oh-so-reliable site wasn't working anymore? Anyway, I got the fixed version up now… for anyone who cares.  
  
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Chapter 9: An Oasis In Hell  
  
Lex stared blankly at Max, now almost afraid to look back.  
  
"Oh god. Ok, clam down," Lex told herself mentally. "You can deal with this. Do not scream. Whatever you do, do not scream. Ok, deep breath. You need to get out of the park. Yeah, that's what you need to do; get out of the park."  
  
"Lex?" Max's whispering brought Lex out of her zone.  
  
"We need to get out of here. White's still after us," Lex ordered as she directed Max back down the path.  
  
"Did you just catch that nod?" Max protested, not sure if she understood who Logan was.  
  
"And how often do I go into soldier mode? We'll deal with this when we are off the ground where White hasn't been looking."  
  
Succumbing to her daughter's whishes, Max slowly turned and took off down the path. Once she was out of sight, Lex spoke up again.  
  
"You," she said, pointing back at Logan, but still avoiding eye contact, "follow us. White might recognize you if he sees you."  
  
Logan felt his legs start walking towards the girl, but his mind was still numb. Now that Max obviously knew the girl, he was almost afraid to find out what he thought he already knew- Max had moved on and had a daughter with someone else.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Did you find Lex?" Jondy asked, hearing Max come back in the window.  
  
"Yup."  
  
Getting now further response, Jondy looked around, "So, is she with you?'  
  
"Nope."  
  
Seeing that she wasn't going to get any information without prompting Max, Jondy went over and sat down next to Max, who'd slumped against a wall, "Care to elaborate?"  
  
"Don't need to," Max cocked her head towards the door as Lex came through, Logan behind her.  
  
"I'm guessing that's Logan," Jondy stated what was already obvious. As Max gave no response, Jondy stood up, "Ok, we'll just leave you two to… stand there awkwardly," she took Lex's arm and led her away.  
  
"So you found me. Now what?" Max blurted out when the silence became unbearable.  
  
"I don't know,' Logan answered honestly. "Who's the girl?" he asked, afraid of what he might hear next; that Max was married, or with someone else, he reworded, not seeing any rings on Max's fingers.  
  
Standing up and walking over to the window Max looked out at the city below her, similar to the way she had done the last time, on their anniversary sixteen years ago, "Your daughter."  
  
Shaking his head, Logan was sure he's just hallucinated, "What?!"  
  
"You heard me," Max chocked as yet another wave of tears threatened to fall from here eyes. She was sure she had cried more time in this one night than she had in the rest of her life combined; or at least since right after she's left Seattle.  
  
"But… how is that possible?" Logan still couldn't believe what he was hearing. Of all the things he had expected to find, a daughter that he had with Max never even crossed his mind.  
  
"Oh, did you forget to have someone give you the birds and the bees talk, Logan?" Max was in no mood to be patient, especially not tonight.  
  
Surprising even himself, that brought a smile to Logan's face. He suddenly couldn't remember how he'd lived through the last fifteen years without her sarcasm. Walking over to Max, he turned to face him and wrapped his arms around her.  
  
"I love you," he whispered in her ear as she brought her arms around his neck, finally letting out all the tears she'd been holding back.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"How you holding up?" Jondy had never heard Lex stay so eerily quiet for so long.  
  
"Why is he here?"  
  
"Your father? Because he was looking for Max, that's why?"  
  
"But why now? Why not fifteen years ago right after she disappeared? And wouldn't he be mad at her for running off?" Lex spouted off.  
  
"After everything you've heard tonight you still think he'd be mad at her?" Jondy understood Lex's point, but she didn't want her talking like that.  
  
Lex just shook her head, "This'll change everything."  
  
"But won't it be better?" Jondy had always thought Lex would be happy if she ever net Logan.  
  
"At this point, I don't know," Lex grumbled.  
  
"And what's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"It means that it won't be just me and Mom anymore. Things are gonna change; we might move to Seattle, he might move here. What if they get married? What if they have more kids? Or what if they don't get back together? And he takes off and I never hear from him again? I gotta tell ya, I'd rather have never met him than have that happen. And if that happens, Mom'll probably get hurt, too. And what if- "  
  
"Hey hey hey," Jondy cut off Lex's rant. "Listen to me. They will handle this. I honestly don't know what they're gonna do, but whatever it is, I'm sure it'll all work out. And I don't know why your Dad's here now and not sooner, or later or never. But the bottom line is that he's here. So you're gonna stop ranting and give them a few minutes. Then we'll bring you out where you will be subjected to awkward interrogation and weird silences. Until then, I could use a second set of transgenic eyes playing lookout with me, ok?" Jondy gave Lex a small, comforting smile.  
  
"Ok," Lex gave Jondy a hug and got up, heading to the window.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Pulling back from Logan's grip, Max looked into his eyes, "Why did you come after me? How'd you know where I was?"  
  
"I didn't. Lydecker called me out of the blue, in the middle of the night, saying that he had a lead on where you were and he wanted my help, or more my hacking skills to find you,' Logan explained.  
  
"And the person you randomly select to trace is Lex?" Max wondered sarcastically.  
  
"Lex?" Logan said his daughter's name out loud for the first time.  
  
"Oh god, I never told you her name!" Max realized. "Alexa."  
  
"Her middle name?" Logan asked as long as they were on the topic.  
  
"Colette."  
  
"Alexa Colette. I like it." Logan smiled.  
  
"Yeah, but call her Lex. The rest if the world does," Max forced a small grin.  
  
"Noted," Logan whispered huskily as he lowered his lips to hers for the first time since that one night.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Sir, there's been two reported sightings of Manticore tact teams in the park," Otto reiterated to White.  
  
"Manticore tact teams? That's impossible. That placed turned into ashes sixteen years ago. All those teams were eliminated, that's why I have a job," White protested in a mocking tone.  
  
"The teams that were spotted fit the descriptions of Manticore tact teams and their commander was undoubtedly Donald Lydecker," Otto pressed.  
  
"Even Manticore wanted that son of a bitch dead," white spoke as if he was talking to a two year old.  
  
"All the more reason to look into the matter, right, Sir?"  
  
An evil glint appearing in his eye, White secured his gun back into his holster, "Right you are, Otto."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"I missed you," Logan smiled as he pulled back for a breath.  
  
"Logan I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you but White said he had familiars who would kill you. I couldn't live with myself taking that risk, I love you too much," Max tried to apologize. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know what to do."  
  
"You have nothing to be sorry for."  
  
"Why am I getting a sense of deja vú?" Max laughed. Taking a deep breath, Max entwined her fingers with Logan's, "So, are you ready to meet your daughter?"  
  
"As ready as I'll ever be," Logan braced himself.  
  
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A/N: Yes, I know, here I go with the evilness again. But it's midnight and I'm beat and someone wanted me to get this chapter up tonight, so there it is. And if there are any spelling mistakes, left out words, etc., let me know and I'll fix it. There probably are seeing as how I'm half asleep right now. Ok, let's do the purple button-clicking thing again; cuz that'll get you another chapter from a well rested me by tomorrow night. 


	10. Race Against The Clock

A/N: Those of you who thought Logan was too easy going about the whole situation at hand- bear with me. I planned to have him react more in the angry/angsty sorta way *after* he met Lex. There isn't gonna be a scream fest between him and Max, but the less happy part is here. Those of you who liked the way things were going- I hope you won't hate what I'm doing here.  
  
Since this site was not working (for the 50 millionth time), I just made this one big, long chapter; originally it was going be two.  
  
Thanks a million to everyone who reviewed- keep up the awesome work! =) Please let me know if I'm falling into any clichés; I'm trying my hardest to avoid them!  
  
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Chapter 10: Race Against The Clock  
  
After some deliberation, Max had decided to go get Lex by herself; she wasn't sure what Lex's reaction to the new situation would be. Slowly opening the door, Max saw Lex standing watch at the window and Jondy polishing up an old M-61. Jondy looked up and gave Max a 'brace yourself' look as she got and went to sit outside.  
  
"Lex?" Max called as her daughter stood there like a statue, not making any effort to turn around. "Sweetie, please say something."  
  
"Like what? Don't let me be the proverbial third wheel on your reunion? Or how about 'no, I don't want to go out there and play twenty questions'? 'Cuz I'm pretty sure you don't wanna hear either of those," Lex snapped coldly, her back still turned.  
  
"And where's this coming from?" Max was not only shocked at what Lex had just said, but worried by the way Lex hadn't raised her voice, a sign that she was extremely angry. When Lex didn't answer, Max walked over and tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder, "Lex?"  
  
"I don't want things to change," Lex angrily blurted out, shaking of Max's hand.  
  
"It'll be ok, we'll still be a team," Max tried to offer her some comfort.  
  
"No, we'll be a trio. And you're gonna move to Seattle and you two will get married and have kids and I'll be phased out 'cuz you'll have gotten a chance to do it all right," Lex vented under her breath.  
  
Max couldn't believe her ears. Never had she expected Lex to react like this, not this angrily. Grabbing Lex's shoulders and jerking her around, Max looked into her daughter's watery eyes, "Am I hearing you right? You honestly think I'm gonna run off on you? That hurts, Alexa. A lot." Lex just stared back and swallowed hard. "Is that what you're so angry about?"  
  
"I don't know," Lex grumbled in a failed attempt to walk past Max. "I just don't want things to change now."  
  
"Well I can't promise you what will and won't happen," Max sighed, "but can you just calm down long enough to give Logan a chance?" Max gave one last plea when Lex diverted her eyes, "Please Lex, for me?"  
  
Lex didn't say anything, but started to walk towards the door.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Head back to control," Lydecker ordered the troops once he'd located them.  
  
Lydecker was still surprised that the rumor he'd heard about Max having a daughter was true. About five years back, Lydecker had come across copies of school records of several young girls. All the girls exhibited unusually advanced abilities in either intelligence or athletics, but one seemed to stand above the rest.  
  
"Lydecker," a gruff voice interrupted his musings.  
  
Turning his head defensively, Lydecker's face hardened at the sight that greeted him.  
  
"I should have taken out your sorry ass a long time ago," White began to walk in a circle around him.  
  
"You could have tried." Lydecker challenged back. "You had one of your familiars try to run me off the road, but that was your first mistake."  
  
"Well, I'd hate to make it again," White threatened as he pulled his gun out of its holster. Lydecker held up a gun of his own in reply. "You really think you stand a chance in hell against me?" White mocked. "Your pathetic military training could never compare to thousands of years of selective breeding," White pulled the trigger.  
  
Lydecker dove to the side, the bullet narrowly missing his head. From his position on the ground, Lydecker fired a shot into White's right shoulder.  
  
"Oh, was that supposed to hurt?" White glanced down at his shoulder, which gave Lydecker the few second respite he needed to get up on his feet.  
  
Lydecker kept his gun pointed at White, "You came here alone, didn't you?"  
  
"Like I would need any help. My troops are out finding your precious 452 and her freak offspring."  
  
"There's your second mistake," Lydecker quipped as he signed something with his free hand.  
  
Before White had time to spit out a comeback, six shots rang out and pierced his chest.  
  
"Never underestimate the enemy," Lydecker reprimanded White as he fell to his knees.  
  
After a minute, White began scrambling for his gun, desperately trying to fire it.  
  
"You'll never learn, will you?" Lydecker shook his head as he shot White in the forehead and again in the side his of his skull until he fell to the ground.  
  
One of Lydecker's head came out from the bushes he had just passed when they got Lydecker's signal to go back, "No pulse, Sir. He's dead."  
  
Lydecker nodded with a soldier expression, "Good job, Alpha two."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Logan turned around as he heard footsteps coming around the corner. He felt his heartbeat quicken and his palms begin to sweat as Lex walked in, stopping as soon as she entered the room. Max came up behind her and gave her a push towards Logan, whispering something in her ear.  
  
Backing out of the room, Max pointed behind her, "I think I'll go help Jondy for bit." Lex turned around to follow her, but Max gave her a look that dared her to go any further.  
  
When Max was out of sight, Lex turned around and looked her father over. She had always heard, when she was eavesdropping on conversations between Max and Jondy, that he was a lot older than her mom.  
  
"He doesn't look and older than his early 40s," she thought to herself.  
  
His hair spiky, but beginning to gray at the temples, and he still seemed to be opposed to shaving every day. Lex shook her head as she found herself staring into his brilliant blue eyes, which she had heard Jondy tease Max about. She had to admit to herself that he wasn't exactly bad looking.  
  
"So…" Logan awkwardly tried to break the ice. "It's nice to meet you."  
  
"Um, yeah, you too," Lex replied quickly. "Ok, that's progress. Just keep being nice. Don't say anything bitchy," she thought, going back to having a conversation with herself.  
  
After a tense pause, Logan let out a deep breath and broke the uneasy silence, "Sorry, I just don't really know what to say."  
  
"Well in case, haven't you noticed you're not the only one with that problem," Lex quipped back. Her head snapped back up as she heard a light laugh come from Logan. "What?"  
  
"Nothing," Logan shook his head, but stopped seeing an opportunity for some degree of conversation. "That sounds like something Max would say."  
  
"Yeah, well, apparently attitudes are genetic," Lex found herself laughing a little bit, too. "Looks aren't the only similarity between us."  
  
"Similarity is a bit of an understatement," Logan couldn't help the small smile that came to his lips looking into Lex's chocolate brown eyes.  
  
"I guess so," Lex agreed as the tense silence between them returned. "Maybe twenty questions is the better option," she grumbled to herself.  
  
"What'd you say?"  
  
"Nothing. Never mind."  
  
"Well, it might kill some time," Logan suggested.  
  
Seeing his point, Lex shrugged, "I said 'maybe twenty questions is the better option'."  
  
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Logan had no idea what she was talking about.  
  
"Well before I was saying that coming out here would like playing twenty questions, because we both don't know what to say, that is. And since there's more awkward silences than small talk going on here, maybe we should just do that."  
  
Letting out a breath that sounded like a laugh and sigh, Logan leaned back against the wall, "So, should you start or should I?"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"So you think they're saying anything?" Jondy asked, trying to listen in on Lex and Logan.  
  
"Will you knock that off?" Max chided her. "As long as Lex is being polite, any form of talking is fine by me."  
  
Just as Jondy was about to reply, they heard gunshots ring out from the park.  
  
"Was that a gun?" Jondy perked up her ears.  
  
Max listened in as to more shots sounded off, "Why would Lydecker be firing now?"  
  
"You don't think Renfro's people are here?" Jondy searched her mind for who Lydecker's opponent could be.  
  
"They were supposed to be taken out right after Manticore burned," Max shook her head. "Maybe we should go check it out."  
  
"Beats sitting around here," Jondy reached inside and picked up a gun from the counter. When Max glared at her, she put her hands up, "It's for me, not you."  
  
Rolling her eyes, Max scaled down the side, making sure no one was looking.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Have you heard from Agent White?" a team of men came up to Otto.  
  
"No, he hasn't answered any calls. Nobody's been able to contact him."  
  
"Do you think he could have captured 452?"  
  
"No, he would have informed us of that," another one of White's men spoke up.  
  
"Should we continue the search for 452 or search for Agent White?"  
  
After some consideration, Otto shook his head, "You continue to look for 452, I'll find Agent White."  
  
"We've searched the entire city, we can't find either of the X5s or the girl. Nobody saw them leave either. We questioned people in the building and people on the street."  
  
"Where did 452 work?" Otto questioned.  
  
"We don't know."  
  
"Well find out and question the people there. They might know where the transgenics could be," Otto ordered, sounding almost like White.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Ok, so now that we have stupid questions out of the way, I have something else to ask you," Lex's smiled flattened.  
  
Logan inwardly sighed, "Ok, shoot."  
  
"Do you want to marry her?"  
  
"Um, w-why do you ask?" Logan stuttered uneasily.  
  
"Well, do you?" Lex asked again.  
  
"I don't know where we'll go from here, but I'm not loosing her again," Logan professed after some thought.  
  
"You really love her, don't you?" Lex suggested quietly, looking down at the floor.  
  
"Yeah, I do," Logan smiled. "And I know it must really be a lot to deal with, but you think we could reach some kind of a truce?"  
  
"Well, seeing a how mom would kick my ass if we didn't, why not?" Lex smiled back. "So what should the terms of this quid pro quo be, because I don't have any long-lost siblings I'm looking for?"  
  
"How about we act like friends and take it from there?" Logan suggested. "I never expected to, well, to- "  
  
"Find out you had a kid with Max after only sleeping with her once?" Lex finished.  
  
"Um, yeah, you could put it that way," Logan had to laugh at Lex's frankness. Not only did she look exactly like Max, right down to her pouty lips and amazing smile, but she had her same bad-ass attitude that made Logan wonder what kind of relationship he'd be able to have with her.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"I see them," Max signed across the jogging path to Jondy.  
  
They crouched down as a tact team ran past, heading in the direction of the van. Once the team had passed, Max and Jondy went ahead, looking for Lydecker. Max was apprehensive about seeing him, but convinced herself that she had to. If Lydecker was trying to find her, she wanted to know why. They spotted him coming out of a clearing up farther on the path, and snuck up behind him.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" Max demanded as she pinned him against a tree, covering his mouth.  
  
Jondy reached over and took his gun; holding it up against him, "Don't think I'm going to trust you. Now why are you here?"  
  
Turning his face out of Max's grasp, Lydecker indicated the field behind him, "Taking care of your problem."  
  
"What problem?" Max snapped.  
  
Jondy walked back into the clearing, stopping short as she saw, "Maxie, you might wanna come see this."  
  
Pinning Lydecker's hands behind his back, Max went over to Jondy's side.  
  
"That problem," Lydecker stated as he felt Max's grip tighten. "I've been trying to finish him off for years. I knew he would be tracking you and I used that as an incentive to get Cale on my side."  
  
"And you expect us to believe that?" Jondy was still skeptical.  
  
Max's response was relinquishing her hold on Lydecker's wrists and walking over to White's bullet-riddled body. After checking his pulse for herself, Max turned around, "What about his men?"  
  
"They'll be lost without him. But they will be looking for him once they realize he's gone," Lydecker concluded.  
  
"And I'm guessing those breeding cult familiars of his aren't gonna be too pleased either," Jondy added.  
  
"Well we'll deal with them later," Max walked back over to Jondy and Lydecker. "Now with White out of the way, it's time to take care of the rest of them."  
  
"And how do you want to do that?" Jondy asked, debating between her gun and her fist.  
  
"I don't know, but let's head back. We'll figure something out there." Turning to Lydecker, she ordered, "You take care of the fucker's body."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Mom?" Lex called out, walking into the back room Max had Jondy had been in before. "Aunt Jondy?"  
  
"They're not anywhere else," Logan came in behind Lex.  
  
"They're not sitting outside either," Lex sighed. "Dammit, where could they be?" Hearing something moving outside, she turned and looked down the side of the building. As Jondy's head popped up, Lex hopped out the window, "Where were you? I came back here and you two just disappeared."  
  
"White's dead," Max stated bluntly as she climbed through the window, stopping and smiling softly as she caught Logan's eyes.  
  
Rolling her eyes to Lex, Jondy walked out of the room and Lex followed.  
  
"What do you mean White's dead?" Logan asked, almost bitter that he hadn't been the one to do it himself. White had robbed him of fifteen years with Max, not to mention seeing Lex grow up. "If that bastard had never had showed his face, I would have been there to feel the first time Lex kicked in Max's stomach, her birth, her first steps and words. I could have taught her to ride of bike, seen her off on her first day of school. All those memories I can never get back," he felt a rage inside him grow as he thought about that, making him want to go and decapitate White's remains.  
  
"What's wrong?" Max asked, interrupting his hostile thoughts.  
  
"Never mind, it's fine now," Logan tried to think up an excuse.  
  
He smiled, pushing his previous thoughts away and walking over to Max, taking her in his arms.  
  
"So, you two actually say anything or did she just sit there and scowl?" Max asked Logan about his first conversation with Lex.  
  
"Oh she spoke," Logan laughed. After being away for so long he had to feel her in his arms again. "She's so much like you it's scary."  
  
"Does that mean she was a bitch?" Max looked over Logan' shoulder as if the answer was written on the door.  
  
"No, she wasn't. But you know your sarcasm is one of the things I love about you."  
  
Max just laughed and buried her head in Logan's shoulder. Logan's thoughts inadvertently went back to Lex's question earlier. Would he marry Max? Turning and burying his face in her hair, he couldn't think if anything he wanted more.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Ok, you wanna elaborate on this whole White's-dead deal?" Lex chased Jondy down the hall.  
  
"Lydecker killed him. Shot him to be more specific. Now I don't know what he's gonna do with the body, but knowing Lydecker, it oughta be good. "  
  
"But I'm guessing this isn't over," Lex asked rhetorically.  
  
"No, far from it. We still have the matter of White's cronies to deal with."  
  
"Well what exactly are we gonna do? The sun should be up in about two hours, so we won't have the dark to work with anymore," Lex pointed out.  
  
"That's what we need to figure out. We could just kill them all, but finding them and then finding where to hide the bodies would take way longer than we want. We need something fast and clean t drive them all out at once," Jondy groaned.  
  
"Oh, yeah, and there are just so many ways to pull something like that off," Lex rolled her eyes sarcastically.  
  
"I have an idea," Logan interjected as he and Max came around the corner.  
  
"What kind of idea?" Max looked up at him questioningly.  
  
"You remember how I got Lydecker off of Sedro Island?"  
  
"You hacked into the signal of the walkie-talkies." Catching his drift, Max urged him on, "Keep going."  
  
"And you remember how you brought down Bronk?" Logan clued.  
  
"You mean saved you sorry ass from him even thought I was still mad as hell at you for being a total jerk?" Max teased him.  
  
Logan closed his eyes for a long blink and looked up at the ceiling, trying his hardest not to laugh, "Max…"  
  
Max laughed and playfully elbowed him in the side, "Yeah, I altered my voice and faked an Eyes Only hack."  
  
Lex's head suddenly shot up as she got what Logan was saying, "I think I get it. You hack into the signal on the coms White's guys have and fake his voice to tell them to get the hell out of the city. They think it's White, so they do it and that'll get them all out in one sweep without having to kill anyone."  
  
"Yeah, that's it," Logan was surprised she could put all that together and hit the nail on the head from his broken hints.  
  
"That just might work," Jondy smiled excitedly.  
  
Frowning, Logan spoke up again, "Wait, one problem. The computers are in the van, over in the park."  
  
"Say no more," Lex jumped up and got her laptop.  
  
Logan scrolled though the programs and was impressed to say the least, "Wow, where did you get all these?"  
  
"A little thing I like to call the black market," Lex smiled mischievously.  
  
Shaking his head, Logan suppressed a laugh as he tried to focus on the task at hand, "Well give me a second, and I'll have it all set up."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"All units, this is Agent White. The transgenics have been captured. Return to base and head to Washington, D.C. immediately," Logan spoke into the microphone on Lex's laptop.  
  
One by one, all of White's men replied, obeying the order and heading out.  
  
Otto was the last one to come through, saying little more, "Sir, I've been looking for you. You weren't answering your com."  
  
"I went out looking for 452 myself. Now do as I told you," Logan impersonated White as best he could.  
  
"Yes, Sir," Otto bought the hoax.  
  
Breaking the connection, Logan turned and smiled and Max, Lex, and Jondy who jumped up and smiled at him.  
  
"Now we should stay here for a few hours, just to make sure all of them are gone," Max cautioned.  
  
"Well I don't know about you, but I want food!" Jondy argued, all of them having gone without anything since the last afternoon.  
  
"Logan can go get something when the sun comes up. Right now, I need a rest," Max walked over and curled up on Logan's lap.  
  
"Uh, aren't you guys forgetting something?" Lex piped up. The adults just looked at one another, reaching no consensus. "Lydecker?" she hinted.  
  
Jondy grabbed her gun and looked around, "I vote take the bastard out."  
  
"No," Max protested.  
  
"And why not?" Jondy snapped her head around.  
  
"I wanna know why he's here," Max stated, standing back up. "He obviously wanted to find me in a big way. I wanna know why."  
  
"But he said he wanted to find White and used finding you as an incentive to get Logan to help him," Jondy rebutted.  
  
"Yeah, but this is Lydecker we're talking about. If he only wanted to find White, he would have gone through looking into the FBI or the operation that was made to take out proof about Manticore, he wouldn't have just gone and tried to find me. And he seemed to know about Lex, too, at least on some level."  
  
"Fine," Jondy reluctantly put her gun back on the floor. "We'll do things your way."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Ok, so the plan is Lex goes up to Lydecker, Logan distracts the tact teams, and Jondy and I tie the bastard up to get him back to the Skylon," Max reiterated.  
  
"Yes, ma'am," Lex mocked a salute, bringing on a threatening glare from Max.  
  
"Let's move out," Max signaled.  
  
One by one, they all four went to their tasks; Logan leading the tact teams to the other end of the park, Lex flagging down Lydecker, and Max and Jondy pouncing on him at just the right moment.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Thank you for traveling transgenic airlines, your flight is now landing," Jondy quipped as she dropped Lydecker on the floor of the Skylon.  
  
Lydecker surveyed his surroundings as his blindfold and gag were removed, "What do you kids think you're doing?"  
  
"What we're doing is getting some answers," Max said, pulling over a chair and sitting down. "Why are you coming after me?"  
  
"I didn't want you to fall into White's hands," Lydecker started.  
  
"And what, you have yet to realize I can take care of myself?" Max cut him off.  
  
"I've wanted to take out White for years, ever since Manticore burned down. I knew he would have been tracking you; so that was my best bet to catch him. Looks like I was right," Lydecker went on, ignoring Max's interjection.  
  
"Why not any of the others? He was taking out any proof Manticore ever existed."  
  
"But he wanted you the most," Lydecker told her.  
  
"What's so damn special about me?" Max was confused now.  
  
"You're the one that could ruin everything his breeding cult has worked for."  
  
"And how am I gonna do that?" Max rolled her eyes.  
  
"It's your DNA. Perhaps you remember the time you were exposed to the pathogen in the snakes, but remained unaffected?" Lydecker explained.  
  
Max nodded, but didn't say anything.  
  
"Every strand of DNA in you has a code, a purpose. You have no junk DNA in you at all, unlike all the other transgenics Manticore produced and it's your blood that carries the antibody that makes people immune to the pathogen in that snakes. What the cult planned to do is expose the world to that pathogen. All the ordinary people would die, of course, and only familiars would be left."  
  
"The Coming," Max began to put it all together.  
  
"You've heard of it," Lydecker wasn't entirely surprised. "If White had killed you, then you couldn't spread the antibody to others. He wanted Lex to see if the antibody could be passed down to your offspring."  
  
"Don't use the word "offspring" when you talked about my daughter," Max ordered, suddenly defensive.  
  
"Fair enough," Lydecker wanted to avoid agitating Max. "Something else I noticed in looking at your DNA workups were studies done on what abilites you'd pass down to your o… children," he corrected himself. "It was concluded that as a result of your not having any junk DNA, a genetic helix would occur in your children, enhancing their abilities even further." Turning to Lex he asked, "Does she exhibit that?"  
  
"My sight and hearing are better, but I'm not sure about strength and speed," Lex answered.  
  
"She kicks ass," Jondy summed up. "Those abilities are at least equal to Max's."  
  
"One last thing I'm sure you'd be glad to hear is that because Lex is half human, that DNA should even out the flaws in yours," Lydecker informed Max.  
  
"Care to elaborate on that?" Lex wasn't sure exactly what he meant.  
  
"No heat and seizures," Jondy stuck her tongue out at her niece.  
  
"Well, that's all I wanted to know." Max got up to retie Lydecker restraints.  
  
"Hold up," Jondy stopped her. Walking over to Lydecker, she got down close to his face, "Now that we're done, I wanna make one thing crystal clear. You leave us alone. No tracking, no dropping the dime on us, no nothing. You hear me?"  
  
"The only excuse for you contacting us, without getting your ass kicked, is if you have new information on White's people," Max added in.  
  
"Understood," Lydecker agreed to their terms.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"All units, this is control. Return to base. Repeat, return to base. Over," Lydecker ordered the teams through his walkie-talkie once they had brought him back to the van.  
  
"Thanks for taking out White, by the way. And contacting Logan," Max felt the need to thank him; after all, he had helped them.  
  
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Lydecker repeated the familiar saying in response.  
  
The tact teams piled into the van upon arriving; Max, Lex, and Jondy hid behind some trees to avoid being seen. When the sound of the engine was out of range, they came back out and joined Logan on the path.  
  
As the first rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon, Max turned around, dragging Logan with her, "I think I'll take that nap now."  
  
"Doesn't sound like a half bad idea," Jondy agreed as she and Lex followed them.  
  
"But we'll take floor," Lex quickly added, laughing as she jumped up on Jondy's back.  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
A/N: I feel this story coming to an end. And it feels like I just uploaded the first chapter yesterday….  
  
Yes, this story is ending, and I hope to have the last chapter up soon. See, I leave for Europe on the 27th and I'll be gone for two weeks. So rather than having to go that long without an update I want to just finish it before then. And don't get all pissy; I'm planning a sequel. Unless of course, you don't review and tell me you want one…. 


	11. The End Of The Beginning

A/N: Well, here it finally is, the last chapter of the story. I actually had this done two days before I left, but when I went to upload it, the upload wouldn't go through. But I guess you all know how bad this site's been lately, so here's hoping the site stays working long enough for me to get the sequel up! I wanna thank everyone who reviewed- yous are the best! Honestly, if yous didn't review as much as you had, I wouldn't have gone on writing this. And this being my first fic I ever showed anyone, it meant a lot to me that you guys reviewed like you did. So thank you. Ok, seeing as how I don't like getting all emotional and crap (must keep up me rep as The Ice Queen), I'm just gonna shut my pie hole and get on with the chapter. ________________________________________________________________________  
  
Chapter 11: The End Of The Beginning  
  
"I don't know about the rest of you but I need some sleep," Max yawned, resuming her previous position on Logan's lap and closing her eyes.  
  
"Since when do you get tired?" Logan laughed.  
  
"Since now," Max drifted off.  
  
Seeing her parents together like that stirred something in Lex. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, she hoped Logan would stick around. There was something in Max's eyes she'd never seen before when she looked at Logan; something that made her eyes glow. She looked so happy and content; a kind of happy Lex couldn't find words to describe. Before anyone caught the inquisitive look on her face, Lex backed out of the room and went to sit on the outside. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, but decided that it was too early to call anyone; it was only 6 a.m.  
  
"Well, this has been an interesting evening," she thought as she reflected to herself. "My mom's arch enemy is killed by the guy who used to be her arch enemy, we hid out in the Skylon all night, apparently Mom was supposed to stop an entire cult's evil plan, and to top it all off, my father makes his grand appearance." Stopping for a mental breath, she thought back to what she was doing when this all started, "What the hell am I gonna tell Kayla?"  
  
"So what's going on?" Jondy plopped down next to Lex.  
  
"What brings you out here?" Lex was slightly peeved to have her musings interrupted.  
  
"Just thinking," Lex answered vaguely.  
  
"About?" Jondy urged her on.  
  
"How does he make Mom so happy? I've never seen her eyes glow like that before," Lex repeated out loud.  
  
"You mean you're dad?" Jondy pestered her. As Lex turned her head, Jondy went on, "You know you can't just avoid that word forever. And since those two are still, quite obviously, in love with each other, you can't just avoid Logan forever either."  
  
"Haven't we already had this conversation?" Lex tried to end it.  
  
"Hey, don't get pissy at me or I won't let you crash at my place the next few nights," Jondy raised her eyebrows.  
  
"And why would I need to crash at your place?"  
  
"Well what do you think the love birds are gonna do? Sleep soundly in separate rooms?" Jondy laughed.  
  
Catching her drift, Lex grimaced, "Ok, gross! That's not an image I need in my mind, thank you very much."  
  
"Yeah, but putting it there is entertaining for me," Jondy playfully punched Lex in the shoulder.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Why don't you go over to Lex's? I hate to see you moping like this," Mrs. Bennett suggested to a disgruntled Kayla.  
  
"Les gone," Kyle stuck his head out from the fort he had built on the couch.  
  
"Gone? Kayla what does he mean?"  
  
"What he means is that she's not home. I tried her home phone, her cell, she's not online, and I can't get Max or Jondy's cells either," Kayla sighed as she continued to channel surf.  
  
"Well, where cold she be? She wouldn't still be sleeping would she?" Mrs. Bennett wondered aloud.  
  
"Now if I knew where she was, I wouldn't have this problem. And no, she wouldn't still be sleeping at 11:00 a.m., she hardly ever sleeps," Kayla grumbled.  
  
"Well, find something to do," Mrs. Bennett chided her.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Lex glanced at her watch for the seventh time in half an hour, "Mom, it's after eleven, I think they'd all be long gone. Now can I go to Kayla's?"  
  
"Fine," Max finally gave in, "But I want you to keep your cell on, in case something comes up."  
  
"Will do," Lex promised as she made her way out.  
  
As soon as she reached the ground, she hut her cell on, only to have it ring instantly, "It's me."  
  
"Lex! Where the hell have you been? You run off as soon I get you yesterday morning and you've like fallen off the face of the Earth since!" Kayla shouted.  
  
"There is perfectly logical explanation about everything," Lex smiled at her best friend's ranting.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Head over to my place, we'll talk there," Lex told her as she ended the call.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Ok, so what was so important that I had to get up off the couch and come over here for?" Kayla flopped herself into her usual spot at the kitchen table.  
  
"Um, ok. You remember what we told you last year? About my mom and Aunt Jondy and me? About what we are?" Lex tried to break the ice as she handed Kayla a Dixie cup from the freezer.  
  
"Yeah, that whole transgenic deal. How can I forget finding out my second family comes from a secret government lab?" Kayla smirked, mixing the chocolate and vanilla ice cream in front of her.  
  
"Right. Well, remember how I said that there were people still out to find us?" Lex went on hinting.  
  
"Oh god. What happened?" Kayla nearly choked as her eyes went wide.  
  
"In a nut shell, we hid out in the Skylon the whole time, my our arch enemy was killed by my mom's former arch enemy, we tricked a bunch of government agents into thinking that we were heading for Washington, D.C.- "  
  
"Holy crap! And you're still here to tell all?" Kayla cut her off.  
  
"Wait, you haven't heard the best part yet," Lex cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrows. "Daddy dearest made an appearance."  
  
"What?! You're father? He's here?" Kayla jumped up and looked around.  
  
"Well, he's here, but not here here," Lex explained. "He's at the Skylon with my mom and Aunt Jondy."  
  
"Well then let's go, I wanna see him," Kayla whined. When Lex only continued making ice cream soup, Kayla sat back down, "What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Liar," Kayla rolled her eyes. "What do you think of him?"  
  
"He's ok," Lex shrugged. When Kayla gave her a pressing look, she went further, "I guess he's pretty good looking. Ya know, for someone his age. And he makes Mom happy. I've never seen her eyes glow like that before. If he stays, everything's gonna be different. But now, I don't know, I kinda don't want him to go."  
  
"Well ya know what I think?"  
  
"Why do I feel like I'm about to find out?" Lex quipped.  
  
Kayla ignored Lex's sarcastic remark, "You, Alexa Guevara, are the most stubborn person I have ever met. So for you, of all people, to be changing you're mind, and telling people about it, on an issue like this means that deep down, you really really want him to stay. And you want the whole normal-family thing with him in the picture and maybe a little sib to top it all off."  
  
Lex opened her mouth to protest, but changed her mind as she processed what Kayla had just said, "You just totally figured me out. Quit it."  
  
Kayla just winked, "Race ya to the Skylon."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"What happened to Lex?" Logan asked as he came back from the market, glancing around the room they'd all just been in.  
  
"She went to Kayla's," Jondy told him as she ransacked the bag of food until she found a banana.  
  
"Kayla's her best friend," Max added, seeing Logan's lost expression.  
  
"Ok, so where is- ," Kayla stopped dead in her tracks as she came around the corner and caught sight of Logan.  
  
Catching up wither, Lex awkwardly started introductions," Kayla, this my, uh," Jondy shot Lex a glare as she hesitated, "father, Logan. This is Kayla."  
  
"Hey, Kay," Jondy tossed Kayla a pack of Pop Tarts. "I guess Lex told you all about the ordeal last night."  
  
"Pretty much. Makes my life seem boring," Kayla broke open the pack.  
  
"You think everything makes your life seem boring," Lex laughed.  
  
"Well, you know what Alexa Colette? Not all of us have genetically engineered family members, government agencies chasing after us, and our motorcycle, ok?" Kayla faked being pissed off.  
  
"What's with the middle-naming?" Lex stuck her hands up in mock-defense.  
  
"You have a motorcycle?" Logan was surprised.  
  
"Yeah, got it off the black market for my birthday," Lex smiled.  
  
"But aren't you a little young?"  
  
"No, they pretty much ignore driver's license laws, if they even exist anymore. It's really cool, a vintage black and red Ninja 950," Lex explained.  
  
The four stayed in there for a few more hours, until Max and Jondy both had to leave for work. Logan couldn't get over how much Max and Lex were alike; not only in how they looked, but in everything they said and did as well.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Hey," Max walked into the apartment, seeing Lex watching cartoons and Logan thumbing through a magazine.  
  
"How was work?" Lex asked from her upside down position on the couch. Noticing the smiles Max and Logan were giving each other, she gagged to herself and turned off the TV, "I'm going to Aunt Jondy's."  
  
Analyzing the look in Lex's eyes, Max shook her head once she understood why Lex was leaving. Lex simply stuck her tongue out at Max and headed across the hall.  
  
Walking up behind Logan, Max snaked her arms around his neck, "So now that we have the place to ourselves, what should we do?" She suggestively punctured each word with a kiss.  
  
"I think we can figure something out," Logan pulled Max down on top of him.  
  
Max captured his lips with her own as she undid the buttons on his shirt and Logan traced circles on her hips with his thumbs.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"So what do you think they're doing/" Jondy pestered Lex for the fiftieth time in twenty minutes.  
  
"Stop it," Lex mumbled.  
  
"C'mon, your not being any fun," Jondy laughed. "I bet they're christening the couch."  
  
"All right, I'm ignoring you now," Lex turned up the volume on the TV.  
  
"Fine," Jondy laughed. "Well, I'm going out for a ride. You coming?"  
  
"Sure, why not. My baby needs to get out of the garage anyway."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Logan?" Max asked as they lay in her bed later that night.  
  
"Yeah?" Logan kissed the top of her head.  
  
"What are we gonna do? About us, I mean?"  
  
"I'm not sure exactly. But I'm not loosing you again, Max," Logan promised.  
  
"I know. But how are we gonna do this? Are you gonna move here? Are Lex and I gonna move to Seattle? Do we do this long distance?"  
  
"We'll worry about that in the morning," Logan put a finger against Max's lips.  
  
Max laid her head back down on Logan's chest, but the thoughts kept racing through her mind until the steady sound of Logan's breathing lolled her to sleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Hey," Max greeted Lex as she came into the coffee shop after her last day of school.  
  
"Hey," Lex mumbled barely loud enough for Max to hear.  
  
"What's wrong? School's out, usually your bouncing off the walls."  
  
"Mr. Bennett got promoted," Lex sighed.  
  
"That's great. Why are you so depressed?" Max put a cup of coffee in front of Lex.  
  
"The promotion he wanted involves a transfer."  
  
"To where?  
  
"Where the company's headquarters is, Boston," Lex spat the city's name out like it was rat poison.  
  
"Kayla mention when they were moving out there?" Max saw a window of opportunity about getting Lex to agree to move to Seattle.  
  
"June 30th."  
  
After pausing a minute to decide how to word her next question, Max took a deep breath and opened her mouth, "Lex, we need to have a little talk."  
  
"Whatever it is, it was Aunt Jondy's idea. I had no choice!" Lex responded on instinct.  
  
"No, not that kind of talk," Max couldn't help laughing. "How would you feel about moving to Seattle? You know, now that Kayla's gonna be moving herself."  
  
"Seattle? Isn't that one of the most corrupt cities in America?" Lex wondered aloud.  
  
"Well, yeah. But it's not so bad once you're there. Logan and I talked about him moving here, but, well- "  
  
"You'd rather move there," Lex finished her sentence.  
  
"Logan lives in the best part of the city. You can pick what school you wanna go to. You would love Logan's apartment," Max tried to sugarcoat the idea as best she could.  
  
"Why would I love his place?" Lex rested her chin in her hand and she sipped her coffee.  
  
Max threw her head back to look at the ceiling, "Ok, you know how whenever you ride through the ritzy district, you always say how you want one of the those penthouses and how cool it would to live in one?"  
  
For a minute Lex didn't see what that had to do with Logan, but realizing what Max was saying she jumped out of her seat, "No way!"  
  
"So will you at least consider Seattle?" Max had a glimmer of hope with Lex's reaction to the penthouse.  
  
"We're not leaving until after Kayla does and I get to ride all the way there. And Aunt Jondy better come with us, too," Lex stated as her terms for the agreement.  
  
"Fine. It can be a road trip. I'll talk to Jondy, but I'm sure she wouldn't object," Max promised with a smile.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
July 2, 2036  
  
"Ok, that's everything," Max loaded the last box into the moving van.  
  
"So I'll see you in about a week?" Logan locked the doors.  
  
"Yeah, it shouldn't take us much longer than that," Max slid her arm around Logan's waist. "Lex!" She waved up at the Skylon, where Lex was taking in her last view of Niagara Falls.  
  
Lex scaled down the side and headed over towards her bike, where Jondy and Max had already gotten on theirs'.  
  
"This is girls only, so no calling. We'll be fine," Jondy warned Logan again as she held out her arms.  
  
Returning her hug, Logan laughed, "I promise, no calls." Turning to Lex and hugging her as well, he joked about Jondy, "Make sure she doesn't try to ride off a cliff, ok?"  
  
"Will do," Lex crossed her heart and laughed.  
  
"What about me?" Max made puppy dog eyes at Logan.  
  
Walking over to Max with a smirking smile on his face, he seared his to hers. Max brought her arms up around his shoulders, tilting her head to the side.  
  
"All right already," Jondy exasperated after a few minutes.  
  
"Oh god, my eyes!" Lex laughed, hiding her head behind Jondy.  
  
"Logan, you're gonna miss your plane," Jondy shouted after the two didn't respond. Once they pulled back, she gunned her engine, "Finally. You two looked like you were gonna start feeling each other up for a minute."  
  
"Very funny," Max glared at her.  
  
Logan walked over to his car and waved to the girls as he drove off to the airport. Waving back, the three started off out of the city.  
  
"You ready to do this?" Jondy shouted over to Lex.  
  
"Let's get this bitch started," she shouted back as they crossed the boarder in to the states.  
  
________________________________________________________________________ A/N: Well, there you have it, the end of With All My Might. So what'd you think? Review and let me know (remember- purple button = good). I have the plot line for the sequel done, but I have a few things to check out and I need to think up a title, too. So that should be up in about two weeks, if the site works, that is. Thank you again to everyone who reviewed the story- that made it all worth writing! 


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